


Heart in a Bottle

by fruityy



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22812412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruityy/pseuds/fruityy
Summary: They say if you write down your wish on a piece of paper, put it in a glass bottle, and give it to the sea, your wish might come true.Dahyun stumbled upon a bottle while sailing the ocean.Chaeyoung was determined to get her bottle back to save herself from embarrassment.
Relationships: Chou Tzuyu/Minatozaki Sana, Hirai Momo/Myoui Mina, Im Nayeon/Yoo Jeongyeon, Kim Dahyun/Son Chaeyoung
Comments: 14
Kudos: 82





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first work in a LONG TIME and my first on this platform! I really really hope you enjoy reading this, I'm not sure how it's going to turn out but I hope it doesn't disappoint. Comments and suggestions are always appreciated and I will try my best to reply to every single one of them!

Summer was the time of year that people either loved or hated, rarely in between. Some were grateful for the fact that the harshness of winter and the flooding rains of spring were gone while others hated how the blistering heat would make them sweat in places they didn’t even know was possible.

Son Chaeyoung was one of those people who loved summer, she liked how she could spend her days drawing or painting outside without the stressful thoughts of school at the back of her mind. She loved how the nearby beach she had grown up on was always full of life- something she wasn’t able to see during the wintertime. However, seeing so many people enjoy their free time with their friends and family had always left a slight pang in her heart. Her parents were always working too often to spend much time with her, her brother had preferred to stay indoors to play video games, and her grandmother was now too frail to leave the house for long periods of time. It’s not that Chaeyoung didn’t have friends, she had plenty, they would just spend their days going shopping or gossiping about others- something Chaeyoung didn’t find much interest in. Why talk about such trivial things when they might not even be true? She didn’t quite understand.

Chaeyoung was scanning the internet to find something that would inspire her to draw when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

“Are you free today?” a text from her best friend Tzuyu read.

“Depends on why you’re asking” answered Chaeyoung.

“A new skin and hair product store just opened at the mall and was wondering if you’d like to come with us!”

“And third wheel for the thousandth time with you and Sana with no way of escape? I’ll pass.”

“Oh come on it isn’t that bad!”

“Last time we went to the mall just to get pretzels and I almost threw up with the amount of times you two kissed each other.”

“I’m sorry about that, she can be a bit affectionate at times. You really don’t wanna come?”

“Don’t apologize, I know you two love each other, I just wish you moved it into private sometimes LOL. But no honestly, I’m fine. You go have fun.”

“Okay, I hope you one day find someone to share your pretzel with Chaeng. I’ll see you later.”

Chaeyoung chuckled at the text before continuing browsing the web. She wasn’t finding anything interesting enough until she scrolled by a very realistic painting of one of those messages in a bottle sitting in the sand on the beach. Normally she was more of an abstract or cartoon kind of artist but the way this beach reminded Chaeyoung of the one she grew up by made her feel kind of nostalgic. However, instead of drawing something that was out of her comfort zone, she decided to take it one step further. One particular line stuck out to Chaeyoung that read “They say if you write down your wish on a piece of paper, put it in a glass bottle, and give it to the sea, your wish might come true.” It was worth a shot right?

If she was being honest, Chaeyoung had no idea what she was doing and why. She was currently standing at the edge of the pier of the beach, bottle in hand with the cork screwed in tightly to protect the message held within it from the dangers of the ocean before her. For some reason, Chaeyoung couldn’t seem to let the bottle go. Would someone actually find it? What if one of her friends found it? God that would be so embarassing. She hadn’t signed the note or anything but she would know that the note would be hers. Do people even do this anymore? It seems like a thing young children do, not a 20 year old student. Before she could make up her mind about turning back, her body seemed to act against her as she felt her arm swing and launch the bottle into the waters before she could even process doing so. After about a minute of watching the bottle float away, the only thing she could think was “did I really just do that?”

-

Kim Dahyun really wouldn’t consider herself a “Master of the Seas.” She knew how to navigate through different levels of water, sure, but any sight of a tall wave made her feel uneasy. Does looking up at a really tall wave count towards her fear of heights? Dahyun had no idea but she would like to think it would.

Dahyun wasn’t a sailor or fisherman or anything, she just enjoyed going out to the sea and seeing what surprises she might find that day. Most days it was just trash and a few wild animals here and there but on some days, there would be something floating in the waters which was the exact reason why Dahyun even sails out in the first place. Finding a glass bottle with a message hidden inside would instantly turn Dahyun’s day from a mundane one to one worth living.

It’s not like Dahyun was a thief or anything, no it was the opposite. Instead of taking the bottle and just keeping it to herself, she takes it and tries her best to make that wish written inside come true. Not every single one is possible however, some people don’t sign their notes or some wish for the most obscure or unrealistic things that she can’t help with. Dahyun was a human like everyone else, how on Earth was she supposed to make it rain cheese and fish sticks at someone's request?

However, some were ones that she could fulfill and nothing made her feel better that she could brighten someone's day. Some of her most recent successes were bringing apples to the local daycare that couldn’t afford some, bringing new pillows and slippers to the elderly home, and donated a big pile of clothes that she had collected to an orphanage. Although Dahyun knew full and well that supernatural forces don’t exist, she had read online that “They say if you write down your wish on a piece of paper, put it in a glass bottle, and give it to the sea, your wish might come true.” and had thought that this was her way of helping people the quickest since this was their way of letting out what they truly need.

Dahyun was currently staring out the porthole of her room on her ship when a knock at the door brought her out of her daydream.

“Come in”

One of her best friends and shipmates, Nayeon came in with a slight smile on her face.

“Hey, there’s something out here you should see.”

Dahyun being fully creeped out by the way Nayeon was smiling at her, she reluctantly got up and walked to the main deck of the ship and looked slightly into the distance. She had no idea what she was supposed to be looking at when she saw something moving swiftly along the coast and a wide grin immediately appeared on her face. A glass bottle was riding the waves heading towards their ship and Dahyun commanded her men to retrieve it.

Before Dahyun could even open the bottle, thunder was heard in the distance overhead and almost everyone on the ship froze.

“Maybe we should-” started Nayeon but before she could even finish her sentence, Dahyun had run into the ship and put the bottle down before rushing back out and commanding her crew to return the ship to the shore and dock it before the storm comes and wipes them all out.

-

Chaeyoung was walking around the town that was near the seaside when she heard thunder. She hadn’t expected it to rain today but the climate always threw surprises at her. She decided to look around the market for awhile but realized on her way back home that she took too long as it started to rain heavily and without a raincoat or umbrella, Chaeyoung had no choice but to seek refuge in the first building she could get inside.

As soon as Chaeyoung got past the fact that she was now soaking wet, she looked up and realized that she had run into a local bar. It could be worse, she could at least have a soda before she continued her walk back home. On her way to the bar to order a strawberry soda, a loud laugh to her left caught her attention. She looked over and saw a girl who oddly resembled a bunny talk to a girl who had skin whiter than the snow Chaeyoung had trekked through last winter. They were sitting with a couple other people and Chaeyoung assumed that they all also came in to escape the rain as well. Although it wasn’t the girls that caught Chaeyoung’s attention, it was the object on the table that made her heart freeze.

Before Chaeyoung could process on how to properly react once again, her body took over and she felt herself marching toward the table. “God,” Chaeyoung thought, “I really need to learn how to control my mind faster than my body huh.” and as soon as she finished her thought, she heard someone yell “HEY!” loudly.

Suddenly there were so many eyes on her and Chaeyoung wondered why.

Oh. It’s because it was her. She was the one that yelled.

-

The ship was barely anchored and docked before everyone on board scrambled off and into the nearest bar before it started downpouring. Rain was rare during the summer but definitely not impossible. Dahyun didn’t forget to bring her newfound bottle with her off the ship and was currently sitting with it in front of her while sipping on her drink with her shipmates and chatting with Nayeon.

“So do you think I can convince Jeongyeon?” asked Nayeon.

“I don’t see why your girlfriend would have a problem with you getting her name tattooed across your forehead but yeah” answered Dahyun.

“That’s not what I said at all, Dahyun! I said I want to get the Virgo symbol tattooed behind my ear. That’s my star sign you know.” Nayeon answered while loudly laughing.

“I do know, you say it all the time. That’s the only reason you wanted to come on the boat. Something about looking at the stars at night as if they’re different from the stars you see on land.”

“They do look different! The city lights drown them out so much.”

Dahyun was about to answer when she heard a voice behind her.

“HEY!”

She turned around and saw a small girl looking at her with wide eyes like she just emerged from the dead randomly while doing 20 cartwheels through rings of fire.

“Where did you get that and what are you doing with it?”

“Are you talking to me? What are you talking about?” Dahyun asked the girl she had never seen before.

“Yes of course I’m talking to you and I’m referring to the bottle!” expressed the small girl.

“I found it. Why? What’s the problem?”

“That’s my bottle.”

Both girls just stared at each other with everyone else refusing to move or acknowledging the awkward air around them.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this :) If you have any suggestions for me, please leave a comment and let me know! I'd love to find any way to improve my stories. If you think there are too many useless details, not enough humor, not enough ship content, etc. then please don't hesitate to express your thoughts!

“That’s my bottle.”

It took almost ten whole seconds of Dahyun processing what the girl was saying before she could think of anything to reply. Chaeyoung was beginning to think this girl was mute and that she should just leave before the girl finally spoke up.

“Well then I guess today is your lucky day” said Dahyun calmly but confidently.

“What do you mean?” asked Chaeyoung warily.

“I mean I’m here to make whatever wish you put into this bottle come true.”

“How is that possible? I could have put the most ridiculous wish in that.”

It was then that Dahyun had realized that she had yet to read what was inside and she had just kept it sitting in front of her still closed the entire time. She picked up the bottle and started to put her hand on the cork before the other girl yelped again and Dahyun was wondering if this girl could ever get her attention at a normal volume. 

“WAIT! DON’T OPEN THAT!” Chaeyoung exclaimed at a volume louder than she had wanted.

“Why not?”

“It’s embarrassing. I never intended anyone to find it, let alone within a week of when I had thrown it.”

“How do you expect me to make your wish come true if you won’t let me read what’s inside?”

“I never asked you to make it come true! I don’t even know you!”

“Then why would it be a problem if I read it?”

“Because it’s something personal about me and I don’t know you so it would feel weird if you knew. It wouldn’t even make sense to you anyway.”

Dahyun was about to admit defeat and just hand the bottle back to the girl who looked like she was about to cry if Dahyun moved one more inch when an even better idea popped into her head. 

“Get to know me then.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“You heard me. If you get to know me then I can read what you put in the bottle and help you make your wish come true.”

Chaeyoung was absolutely baffled at how adamant this strange girl before her was. She considered just giving up right then and leaving or even calling the police to send this girl into a mental institution but when she looked up, she saw that the girl was being genuine in helping her and for some reason, Chaeyoung had felt as though this girl wasn’t someone she should let slip away so easily.

Still being wary, Chaeyoung asked “why do you want to help me so badly?”

Dahyun thought for a second before replying with “I don’t know. You just seem like you could use some positivity in your life. Plus the two of us getting to know each other would give me an excuse to see a pretty girl more often.” Nayeon scoffed at how Dahyun had the audacity to not appreciate the privilege she had of seeing the great Im Nayeon every day but decided to bother her about that later. On the other hand, Chaeyoung was quickly turning red and tried her best to hide her blush with her hair.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay I will let you get to know me and vice versa. But only on one condition.”

“And what’s that?”

“You don’t open that bottle until I tell you that you can.”

“But I still get to keep it?”

“As long as you don’t open it, sure.”

“Okay, deal.”

Chaeyoung nodded and slightly smiled. At least her initial panic had faded and she was able to properly breathe again. She was about to take a step away when she felt the absolute worst feeling in the entire world. Her socks were wet and sopping in her shoes. Chaeyoung groaned and when she looked outside, it was still raining so going home and changing wasn’t an option. She then felt something wrap her shoulders and turned to see her new “friend” standing behind her with a towel in her hands with a wide grin on her face. Chaeyoung blushed and thanked her before fully wrapping herself.

“So new friend, what do you wanna do first?”

Chaeyoung thought for a moment before saying “well you can start with buying me a strawberry soda at the bar.”

The two walked to the bar and sat down on the stools and after Dahyun ordered a strawberry soda for Chaeyoung and a regular cola for herself, she looked at Chaeyoung with concerning eyes. 

“What is it? Do I have something on my face?” Chaeyoung asked.

“No, it’s just that I never got your name.”

That realization hit Chaeyoung too and she said “Look at the bottom of the bottle.”

Dahyun went to the table to retrieve the bottle before flipping it over and seeing that SCY was engraved at the bottom. She looked up with questioning eyes and although that was more information about the girl then she had a minute ago, it wasn’t quite enough.

“It stands for Son Chaeyoung.”

“A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Hi Son Chaeyoung, I’m Kim Dahyun.”

“You know flirting with me isn’t gonna help you open the bottle faster.” Chaeyoung giggled

“Maybe not, but seeing you smile, blush or laugh is a big enough reward” Dahyun said while sporting a big grin. If she was being honest, she could have thrown up at how cheesy she was being but she wasn’t lying either. 

-

While sipping on their drinks, the two started asking each other questions about each other and a friendship was quickly building. It was as if they had met 10 years ago, not an hour ago. 

“Wait so that was you?! You really painted that painting that hangs in the main hall of the music building?”

Chaeyoung nodded. “It was my first commission from the school so I had put all my time and energy into it in order to not disappoint. God I think it took me like 2 months to finish it." 

“Wow I can’t believe it, I walk right past that painting everyday and I had no idea it was done by a student. It’s a beautiful painting, I can see that you put your heart into it.”

Chaeyoung’s heart started to flutter as she heard Dahyun compliment her. She had assumed that she was the only one who really noticed her painting there. Many students walk in and out of that building all the time but none have really looked at it. Chaeyoung wasn’t sure how much of Dahyun’s fangirling she could take anymore so she decided to change the subject to the other.

“So how did you happen to stumble on my bottle anyway?”

“One of my ship mates saw it floating and we picked it up. It’s kinda what we do in our free time on the weekends or on breaks.” Dahyun then went on to explain how she wishes to give back to the community that gave her so much and Chaeyoung’s opinion of Dahyun quickly changed from strange bottle thief to someone who deserves the entire universe. 

“Wait did you say that you donated blanks and slippers to an elderly home last winter?”

Dahyun finished slurping the last of her drink while nodding. 

“Yeah last winter was really harsh even if you were inside. We found a bottle floating where someone wished for some warmth and we decided that it was the perfect thing to do during that break.” Dahyun remembered the faces of the employees and residents of the nursing home and it made her body feel warm again. 

Chaeyoung was also smiling at that memory for a different reason. “My grandmother lives at that nursing home. I know she was extremely grateful that she no longer had to share a single blanket with two other people and that everyone can have their own source of warmth. You have no idea how you saved so many people then.” Chaeyoung hadn’t realized it yet but this was the moment Chaeyoung had decided that Kim Dahyun was not somebody she wanted to let go.

-

“Wait so where is she?” Jeongyeon was currently in the kitchen of her home preparing dinner for her and her girlfriend when she barged in mumbling about how Dahyun should get a new pair of eyes for not appreciating Nayeon’s beauty the way it should be.

“She’s talking to some girl who’s bottle we found earlier today. There was a weird tension between them but it turned into a very amicable interaction and they’ve been there since. I don’t even think either of them have realized that it stopped raining half an hour ago.” Nayeon said while launching herself onto the couch. 

“And is this a bad thing?” Jeongyeon asked while stirring her pot of soup.

“Not necessarily, I hadn’t seen Dahyun smile that way since you-know-who. The girl was being so oddly protective about the bottle it makes me wonder what she wrote in it. I mean what if she wished for someone’s murder or something?”

“I think you and I both know that Dahyun is logical enough to not go through with that one. Are you gonna help me set the table or not, lady?” Jeongyeon asked while struggling to carry bowls of rice and plates of chicken to the table. 

Nayeon got up and took the dishes out of Jeongyeon’s arms and set them down on the table before going to the kitchen to retrieve utensils.

“I mean I guess but love makes you do crazy things. Remember that time I got a picture of me blown up to a poster size so you can hang it in your office because you said you miss me during the day?”

“Literally nobody asked you to do that ma’am. When I said that I missed you I just meant send me a text or two every hour. Not get me a poster so it seems like I’m one of your fangirls with your face on my wall.” Jeongyeon stated while rolling her eyes.

“I mean technically you are one of my fangirls, you just happen to also get to sleep next to and wake up next to me every morning” Nayeon said while winking.

This did not faze Jeongyeon at all as she sat down and hoped that someone could one day metaphorically pop Nayeon’s inflated ego. The rest of their night passed by calmly with dinner and a movie and the both of them going to sleep early to prepare for the day tomorrow.

-

“I should walk you home, it’s dark out and the streets can be dangerous.” Dahyun said while walking out of the bar. She had somehow managed to talk to Chaeyoung for three hours and hadn’t even noticed how much time had flown by until the bartender notified them that they were closing soon. 

“But what about you? I don’t want you to walk back yourself either.” Chaeyoung said while putting her jacket back on.

“No I’ll be fine, I take walks at night often when I can’t sleep anyway, don’t worry.”

As they walked, they would each point out places of importance to them or places where they saw funny things happen and realized that they were familiar with the same places and how differently they saw the city. Eventually they got to Chaeyoung’s apartment building and stopped in front of it. Neither were sure if the other had wanted a hug or a handshake or something but just settled with sending each other a goofy smile. 

“Thanks for walking me home, I hope you get home safely too.” Chaeyoung said, still smiling.

“No problem, and I’ll be extra careful tonight but I can defend myself well.” said Dahyun while flexing her nonexistent muscles.

Chaeyoung laughed as she pulled her phone and handed it to Dahyun. “I’m sure you can, superman, but text me when you do. It’ll just make me feel better.”

They exchanged numbers with each other and Chaeyoung watched Dahyun walk away until she couldn’t see her anymore before going up to her apartment and getting ready for bed. She had just finished taking a shower when she heard her phone buzz on her nightstand.

“Hey it’s Dahyun, I’m home. Had to fight off some feisty mosquitos on my way back but thankfully I won this round without very many injuries! Hope you sleep well, I’ll see you soon xx” 

Chaeyoung chuckled at the text before replying with a “you too” with two thumbs up emojis.

Dahyun read the text and was about to fall asleep when she heard her phone buzz again. She had thought Chaeyoung had texted her again before she read the contact as someone she hadn’t ever wanted or expected to hear from ever again. 

“Hey. U up?”

Dahyun rolled her eyes and debated on whether or not to even reply when her curiosity got the best of her before she grabbed her phone and answered with a “No.”

“Are you quoting CLC or are you lying?”

“Yes.”

“Look, I know you’re still mad at me but I still have hope that we can still make up and have somewhat of a relationship.”

“I’m not interested and I’m not mad. I got over it a long time ago and don’t acknowledge it anymore and you should too.”

“Can’t we at least just meet? I have some of your old things to give you, that’s it.”

Dahyun contemplated on sending one of her friends to get her things for her but didn’t want to drag any of them into this again and figured that it was immature.

“When and where?”

“Tomorrow at school around 12? Outside the music building is fine.”

“Fine.” Dahyun sent her final reply and drifted into sleep with an uneasy feeling.  
  



	3. Three

Chaeyoung woke up extra giddy today. She was walking around her apartment smiling widely while doing the most normal day to day things and if Tzuyu was being honest, it was freaking her out a little bit. 

“Is there something going on between you and the cereal box?” Tzuyu asked while staring at Chaeyoung.

“Other than the fact that it provides me basic energy in the morning, no. Why do you ask?”

“You’ve been staring at it and smiling like a weirdo. I know you like strawberries but I didn’t realize you like them THAT much.” 

“Sorry I must have spaced out, I’m not actually smiling at the cereal.”

“Yeah no kidding. If it isn’t the cereal that’s got you in a happy mood then what is? Did the school commission you to do another painting?” Tzuyu remembered the first time Chaeyoung was working on her painting. It was back when she had just started dating Sana and the two may have accidentally caused a barely noticeable smudge in the corner of it after a make out session got too out of hand. Luckily the frame of the painting managed to hide the smudge and Chaeyoung never found out but Sana and Tzuyu will always sense that it was there whenever either of them walked by it.

“Are you paying attention to me?” Chaeyoung asked while snapping her fingers in Tzuyu’s face.

“What? No sorry, I guess I’m the one that’s spaced out now. What did you say?” Tzuyu drank her coffee while putting her full attention back on Chaeyoung.

“I said I made a friend yesterday. She seems cool and asked if we could hangout this afternoon, she wants to show me her boat or something.” Chaeyoung stated while Tzuyu continued to stare at her like she was crazy.

“She owns a boat? Who just owns a boat around here? Is she rich? Does she have a single brother who just happens to be in need of a wife right now?”

“I guess so. I don’t know, they aren’t too uncommon since the shore is nearby. I don’t know. Probably not. Plus you have Sana, she’s pretty well off if you ask me.” Chaeyoung answered as she stood up to put her bowl in the sink.

“I mean I wouldn’t really say Sana is that rich..” Tzuyu said shyly when a knock was heard at the door.

Chaeyoung moved to the door to open it to reveal Sana standing in the hallway covered head to toe in designer Gucci with a matching purse that probably costs more than Chaeyoung’s tuition in her hands. Chaeyoung couldn’t believe the irony and just moved aside from the door and looked at Tzuyu while wildly motioning at Sana and the way she was dressed while saying “not that rich” while emphasizing her air quotation marks. 

“Good morning Chaeyoung!! I hope you’ve slept well, I brought you a muffin!” Sana said cheerily while placing a box into Chaeyoung’s hands while walking towards Tzuyu.

“Oh wow thanks Sana! I appreciate this a lot.” Chaeyoung said while happily taking a bite.

“Why does Chaeyoung get a muffin but I don’t?” says Tzuyu while standing up to clear her own bowl from the table.

“Because silly, I brought you something sweeter!” Sana said with a devious look in her eyes.

Tzuyu hesitated for a second before asking “what?”

“Me.” Sana said before attacking Tzuyu with a hundred kisses and laughing maniacally. 

“I can’t exactly be mad at that but I still like muffins.” Tzuyu said while accepting a few kisses.

“Oh you’ll get a muffin later alright.” Sana said in a certain tone that made Tzuyu blush and Chaeyoung gag. 

“No! None of that today. I have a lot of very important essays to write today if I want to keep my scholarship and stay here so repeat after me: ‘I will not make out with Tzuyu’” Tzuyu stated while pushing Sana away.

“I will not make out with Tzuyu” said both Sana and Chaeyoung.

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get this degree.” Tzuyu said while grabbing her laptop and sitting on the couch.

Chaeyoung and Sana just looked at each other and shrugged before going on with their daily activities. This meant that Chaeyoung had to hurry and get ready to go to the docks if she didn’t want to be late meeting Dahyun. She quickly brushed her teeth and changed into a simple white dress perfect for the weather outside before grabbing sunglasses. Chaeyoung figured that the fastest way to the docks was to cut through the university and go towards the beach. She checked the time and saw that it was 12:00 and the walk would make her right on time to meet Dahyun at 12:30. She took a second to calm herself down before starting her trek towards the school.

-

Dahyun arrived at the university at 11:55am and waited until a familiar (yet still unwanted) figure was seen in the distance approaching her. 

“Hey. Thanks for meeting me.” The person said while putting down a small cardboard box. 

“I’m just here to get my things from you, that’s it. I don’t even think they’re that important since I can’t even think of anything that I may have left.” The words came out harsher than Dahyun had intended but at this moment all of her feelings had come back and she just couldn’t help it. 

“Dahyun look-”

“Just don’t, Mina. I don’t have anything else that I need to hear from you so it’s okay, really.”

Mina sighed and slightly smiled and nodded before picking up the box and handed it Dahyun.

Dahyun took the box and looked inside and saw that it was a couple of her clothing items and past remnants of their relationship such as pictures, charms, and souvenirs. Dahyun wasn’t exactly sure why Mina was giving her these things back, it’s not like she had any use for them either but decided that it was best to just not argue with it and to walk away. She was about to do just that when Mina slightly walked forward and Dahyun looked at her with her eyebrows slightly raised.

“Umm.. I know that this is probably a weird thing to ask but can we just hug? One last time. I mean I doubt it’ll be the last time I’ll see you since we go to the same school and everything but we won’t ever talk like this again.” Mina said with a little bit of hope in her voice.

Dahyun contemplated it for a second before she simply nodded and allowed Mina to bring her into her embrace. The hug was just as Dahyun remembered it to be. It was familiar, warm, cozy, and at one point in her life, it was home. Except the only difference now was that Dahyun had no butterflies in her stomach or love in her heart. She was just standing there not moving until they both let go. Mina just looked at her and gave her a single nod before going their separate ways. 

Dahyun then checked her watch and saw that it was 12:10 and if she didn’t get to the docks soon, she wouldn’t be there when Chaeyoung would get there so she quickly took off. 

Dahyun reached her vessel at 12:20 and greeted her crew members who were already there preparing for the day ahead. 

“Momo! Good afternoon! How’s the weather looking today?” Dahyun asked one of her best friends and favorite crew mates.

“Good day Captain! It looks as though all the rain from yesterday has cleared and we have a beautiful sunny day ahead of us!” Momo answered with a big smile. Dahyun and Momo had met when Momo accidentally stumbled upon Dahyun dancing by herself in one of the dance studios by herself to a popular song. It had been humiliating for Dahyun but after the initial teasing from Momo was over, the two realized that they had a great dynamic that eventually led to them being best friends and shipmates or as Nayeon calls them, “boat bros.”

“Awesome! We have a special guest coming on the boat today so I’m gonna need everyone to be on their best behavior!” Dahyun said while greeting everyone else.

“Don’t tell me you invited the bottle girl here” Nayeon said while emerging from below deck.

Dahyun frowned and asked if that was going to be a problem. 

“No, not at all. You’re just protective of the boat and who’s allowed on it. I mean it took almost two months before you let Momo on the boat and now you’re letting this mysterious girl on after less than a day? Sounds sus to me.” Nayeon said.

“Can you blame me? Have you seen the way Momo eats? I’m surprised she doesn’t leave a crumb trail wherever she goes!” Dahyun said while Momo simply agreed and nodded. “And besides, she isn’t a mystery girl, I talked to her for hours yesterday and she isn’t the kind of person to sink a boat.” 

“Whatever you say, let’s just hope she didn’t wish for something like flying gummy bears in that bottle of hers.” Nayeon said while glancing in the direction of the bottle which was now stored in Dahyun’s quarters within the boat. 

Dahyun was about to defend the bottle when the girl in question was seen walking up the dock and onto the boat. Dahyun started frantically waving and whisper yelling “BE COOL” at her two friends who were just standing there looking at her when Chaeyoung reached them.

“Uhh hey, good afternoon.” Chaeyoung said shyly while looking in between Dahyun and the other two girls. “Wow are sailors all really this pretty?” Chaeyoung thought to herself. 

“Hey! Welcome aboard the S.S. Swag” Dahyun tried saying coolly while leaning on a cart. However, that play went south quickly when the cart she leaned on rolled away and crashed into the wall. Nayeon rolled her eyes while Momo stifled a laugh. They were both shocked but at the same time not at how lame their friend was being. 

“Hah. Thanks.” Chaeyoung said kind of blankly. Dahyun had wondered if she had already managed to do something wrong or had made her uncomfortable. Did she not like the boat name? Did swag offend her? Did her family die in some freakish swag accident and Dahyun had no idea? There were so many possibilities. 

“Anyway, Chaeyoung this is Nayeon, Chief Officer of this vessel, and Momo, my Second Officer.” Nayeon and Momo both greeted and waved to Chaeyoung before continuing to prepare the last things before sailing away. 

“By the way, the boat is actually called the Valkyrie, not… swag.” Nayeon said while walking away laughing.

Chaeyoung slightly chuckled while Dahyun just glared at her.

“Shall we then?” Dahyun asked while turning her attention back to Chaeyoung. She wondered if Chaeyoung had forgotten about how close they had gotten yesterday or if she chose to ignore it. Dahyun had wondered a lot about the girl and what could have caused her to send a message in a bottle of all things but she was determined to find out eventually.

Chaeyoung simply nodded.

-

Chaeyoung was walking through the college campus thinking about how empty and peaceful it was during the summertime. She took note that this could be a place she could go for some quietness whenever she needed it during the summer. She walked the familiar path through all the arts buildings towards the beach but when she turned the corner, she saw that there were other people on campus as well. Chaeyoung was about to just walk around the other way when she realized that the girls had looked familiar. Was that Dahyun? It couldn’t be, she was supposed to be on her ship by now. There was no doubt that it was Dahyun though, her bright blonde hair could be seen from a mile away. It looked as though Dahyun was talking to another girl and even though Chaeyoung couldn’t think of it right at that moment, the girl had also looked familiar. Before Chaeyoung could try to rack her memories, the second girl handed Dahyun a box and they hugged. For some reason, the hug brought Chaeyoung from an excited mood to a somber one and she wasn’t sure why. Chaeyoung couldn’t be jealous could she? She had only met Dahyun yesterday and had no relationship with her whatsoever, let alone possession. However for some reason, Chaeyoung wished that she was the one hugging Dahyun. The two broke apart and went their separate ways while Chaeyoung stayed glued in her spot.

She wondered if she should still go meet and spend the day with Dahyun. She could just pretend that she had gotten sick, she was soaking wet yesterday afterall or she could have Tzuyu fake an emergency and ask her to come home. Chaeyoung then realized that she was being dramatic and had no reason to be upset and continued to walk. She finally reached the docks and spotted Dahyun immediately and walked up to her. The girl looked the same as yesterday with a bright grin on her face and although Chaeyoung knew she was being unfair, she couldn’t send the same energy back.

After introductions and a tour, the boat set sail and Chaeyoung was curious as to how this day was going to turn out. She knew that it would be up to her on how this day goes depending on her attitude so she decided to make the best out of this little adventure.

  
  



	4. four

“So what’s the game plan for today, Captain?” Momo asked while rummaging through the cabinets for a snack.

“Just the usual, sail around see if there's anything we can pick up!” Dahyun replied while checking their location and direction. She looked up and around and noticed that Chaeyoung wasn’t even in the room with them. Dahyun asked Momo where Chaeyoung had gone but the girl only shrugged while opening a bag of chips. 

Dahyun, along with Chaeyoung and her crew, was currently about 10 minutes from the shore peacefully sailing around. Chaeyoung enjoyed the salty air and it smelled even better when you were actually on the water as opposed to standing on the sand. She would have enjoyed it a lot more if the thoughts in her head would just go away. Did Chaeyoung really like Dahyun that much after a single encounter? I mean sure, they spent hours talking but the way that blonde girl was starting to take over Chaeyoung’s thoughts slightly scared her. She didn’t find it easy to trust people but for some reason, she found that every aspect of Dahyun was genuine and it intrigued her. 

“Hey there you are, I was starting to get scared that you had jumped overboard or something.” The girl who was currently occupying came up from below deck and was walking toward her. Chaeyoung slightly smiled and shook her head before looking back out at the waters.

“So do you like water?” Dahyun asked in a panic. She then mentally punched herself in the face for asking such a question. Of course she likes water. It’s _water_. 

“Uhh yeah I guess?” Chaeyoung answered confused. I know they said that they should get to know each other but this isn’t what she had thought that meant. 

“That’s good, I like it too.” Dahyun said while chuckling awkwardly. 

Nayeon had heard this encounter when walking back from the bow of the ship and couldn’t believe the fact that that question came out of Dahyun’s mouth and she was no longer shocked that her friend was still single. 

“So what do you like to do for fun?” Dahyun tried again and was super proud that she managed to ask a question that was actually intriguing. 

“Draw, paint, listen to music.” Chaeyoung simply answered. She knew that she was being cold for no good reason and felt like she was single handedly ruining this new friendship. Luckily, Dahyun couldn’t be taken down easily.

“That’s cool, I bet you’re really good at it. I kinda hope you’ll paint me one day.”

Neither of them could quite hide the blush creeping up on their faces but luckily for them, a crew member approached and notified Dahyun that they’re going to temporarily dock on a nearby island to restock on supplies. They all got off the boat and while Nayeon and Momo went to go to a nearby market to get food, Dahyun and Chaeyoung went to go explore a nearby beach. While walking on the beach, Dahyun couldn’t help but wonder how Chaeyoung had changed moods overnight and was beginning to worry that she had changed her mind about their deal. 

“Hey you know that if you wanna call off our deal then that’s fine...” Dahyun said with a slight worry in her voice. 

“What why? What do you mean?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Nothing it’s just I didn’t want to seem like I forced you into this friendship or anything and you can have your bottle back if you really want.” Dahyun said while kicking a few seashells around. 

“No trust me, I don’t feel that way, I really appreciate you taking me out here. It's beautiful and so are you.” Chaeyoung said while looking at Dahyun in the eyes for the first time today.

Dahyun was shocked by how quickly this girl can change and she swears she just got whiplash. “Well uh thank- thank you for saying so, I was starting to worry that you just wanted to go home or something” she said while walking towards the water to soak her feet. Chaeyoung followed and was watching the waves crash when she felt the same way she did less than 24 hours ago- soaking wet. She looked over and saw Dahyun with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Did you really just splash me?!” Chaeyoung said, feigning shock on her face.

“Maybe I did. Or maybe it was Posiedon, who knows? Not me.” Dahyun shrugged and ran away.

“I’m gonna get you back for this!” Chaeyoung yelled after her. She turned back around to continue looking at the waves when something caught her attention. Something was floating in the water and she was hoping and praying that it wasn’t an animal coming to eat her but the closer it got, the more Chaeyoung realized that it was just a bottle coming at her. She was about to internally curse at people who pollute the ocean when she realized that she had also thrown a bottle into the ocean less than a week ago and that it was hypocritical. She picked up the bottle with the intention of tossing it out when she saw that something was inside of it. A piece of paper was rolled up inside of it. Chaeyoung was shocked at how people actually do this and hoped for some magical force to make their dreams come true. She looked up and saw a magical force walking toward her with two coconuts in her hands.

“A coconut for a coconut brain!” Dahyun said while handing Chaeyoung one. Chaeyoung took it and thanked her before starting to drink it.

“What do you have there?” Dahyun asked while drinking her own coconut.

Chaeyoung had totally forgotten about what she had just picked up before handing it to Dahyun who took it and got excited.

“Oh a bottle!! I wonder what the message says.” Dahyun opened the top and took out the piece of paper and read it over a couple times before making a sound of acknowledgement. “It seems as though we’re going to the mall next,” she said while smiling and handing Chaeyoung the paper. Chaeyoung took the paper and read “I wish I could win a race against Jaehyun one day.” She was extremely confused as to why they needed to go to the mall when Dahyun just motioned her to follow her back to the ship. 

-

Nayeon and Momo were having lunch together and trying to decide on how to help Dahyun get better flirting skills. At least Nayeon was, Momo was completely enamored by the beauty of their waitress that she had barely picked up any food which was extremely rare for the girl. 

“Sooo.. what kind of qualities do you like in a person?” Momo asked the waitress. “Totally subtle” Nayeon whispered under her breath. She felt Momo kick her under the table and was about to kick her back when she decided that she would just get her back later. 

“Umm I guess I would have to say that I like tough people” the waitress replied after thinking for a second.

“I once killed a cockroach with my bare hands.” Momo said confidently.

“But I guess it’s always nice to have someone sensitive too” the waitress also said.

“After I killed it, I cried for two weeks straight.” Momo answered while wiping a fake tear off her face. 

The waitress swooned and Nayeon couldn’t help but stare at the waitress in disbelief that she would believe, let alone like, such a thing. She couldn’t help but wonder if single people were always this embarrassing and she couldn’t wait to tell Jeongyeon later. 

“This has been a lovely lunch, but we really need to get back to the boat now. Thank you so much the food was great! Nayeon said while pulling Momo with her. The two then walked out of the restaurant and got back on the boat but not before Momo got the waitresses number.

“Lisa. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl!” exclaimed Momo while Nayeon rolled her eyes again. They were back on the boat now and were notified by Dahyun that they were going back to the mainland and were welcome to join her and Chaeyoung at the mall to fulfill another bottle wish.

-

Chaeyoung was still confused as to why they were at the mall and was just following as Dahyun walked with a purpose past all the stores until she reached a shoe store and went right inside. They walked out 15 minutes later with a new pair of small sneakers and after debating on whether or not to get the blue or red ones, Dahyun had gotten the red ones after Chaeyoung had noted that Lightning McQueen is red. 

“I still don’t understand what we’re doing.” Chaeyoung said while walking alongside Dahyun towards the city.

“It’s for the note in the bottle! I recognized the paper it was written on, it came from the Seocho Daycare Center, their logo was printed in the top corner. By the way can you remind me of the name signed at the bottom?” Dahyun said while checking her phone to make sure they’re going in the right direction. Chaeyoung checked the paper again and saw that Dahyun was right and was impressed that she had managed to catch that. 

“The name at the bottom says Lee Jihoon.” Chaeyoung read from the bottom.

“Awesome, thanks!” Dahyun said.

Not too long later, they turned into the front gates of a daycare and walked in asking which class Jihoon was in saying that they had a gift for him. The receptionist let them know that he was in class 4A and gave them visitors passes. They entered a room filled with children and was almost knocked a couple times with the sheer amount of kids here. 

“Hi!!” Dahyun said loudly to get the teachers attention. 

“Yes? How may I help you?” a young woman approached them.

“We’re looking for Lee Jihoon! We have a gift to give him.” Dahyun said while lifting a bag up and showing the teacher.

Hearing his name, a little boy looked up and slowly walked over to the girls and was confused since the only person who ever came in looking for him was his mom. “You aren’t my mom..” 

“Yes that’s correct.” “Oh God no.” said Dahyun and Chaeyoung.

“Did you happen to write a message in a bottle and throw it into the ocean, little Jihoon?” Dahyun asked.

“Oh yes, we did that as a class project last month to celebrate the beginning of summer starting!” answered the young teacher. 

“Oh that’s wonderful, I love that! Do you remember what you wrote, Jihoon?”

“Uhh.. I think I wrote that I wanted to beat Jaehyun in a race one day.” the little boy answered shyly. 

“Yes, that’s right! I’m here to grant your wish” Dahyun said while handing him the bag.

The little boy sat on the ground and slowly opened the box pulling out a brand new bar of red sneakers. He was confused as to how this would help him with Dahyun leaned down and whispered “do you know want to a secret about these shoes?” the boy nodded and looked back down at them. They didn’t look like a special pair of shoes, they were definitely nicer than the ones he had on now but they were still just a pair of shoes. 

“Well you have to keep this a secret, okay? These shoes give you special powers that make you run faster! They have the spirit of Lightning McQueen in them, you can tell because they’re red.” Dahyun said while looking up and smiling at Chaeyoung. She smiled back and felt how her heart fluttered watching Dahyun interact with kids.

“Really?” Jihoon asked wide eyed.

“Of course! Plus as a special bonus, you can really see how fast you’re going because they light up!” Dahyun gave the shoes a light smack before they started to light up all sorts of different colors, almost as bright as the look in Jihoon’s eyes. He put them on immediately and started to run around wildly before going to another boy Chaeyoung assumed was Jaehyun and challenged him to a race. 

The two went outside onto the field and Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and the teacher followed to watch. After a countdown, both boys took off to see who could get to the other side of the playground first. And whether it was by luck or his new magical shoes, Jihoon flew by Jaehyun to win the race. He used whatever energy he had left to jump up and down to hug his friend then ran to Dahyun to do the same.

“Wow you were right! These shoes are awesome, thank you so much!” Jihoon said while bouncing up and down.

“My pleasure, you were so fast I could barely keep my eyes on you!” Dahyun said while being equally as bouncy. 

“You were so fast Jihoon that was amazing!” Jaehyun said while running up to join them. The two boys started chatting away while Dahyun and Chaeyoung bid farewell to the teacher and started walking back.

“How did you know the shoes were going to change him?” Chaeyoung asked once they were on the main road back to the city.

“I recognized that the daycare is in one of the poorest areas of the city. I had bet that he didn’t have the newest pair of shoes and that getting new ones would make his confidence sky rocket to allow him to run faster, it’s all about what’s in your heart, Chaeyoung.” Dahyun said while looking at the girl and smiling.

“You’re a genius” Chaeyoung said while chuckling.

“It’s either that or light up sneakers have magical powers. I’m thinking of getting a pair myself” Dahyun said in a matter-of-fact kind of tone.

“Oh I definitely think you could pull it off” 

“Yeah? Maybe we should get matching ones.”

“I don’t even think they make them in adult sizes” Chaeyoung said while laughing. 

They had reached the boat again and were met with Nayeon standing on the main deck with a box in her hands and a worried look in her eyes.

“Dahyun what is this?” Nayeon asked while holding the box that Dahyun had gotten from Mina earlier.

“Oh… I met with Mina earlier this morning” Dahyun said carefully. There was no way she could beat around the bush and decided to just tell Nayeon straight up.

“Mina? Is that the girl she was hugging this morning?” Chaeyoung thought and from the looks of it, Nayeon didn’t approve.

“Why would you do that? I thought we agreed that she was no longer going to be in your life.” Nayeon said while handing Dahyun the box.

Dahyun took it and said “We did, she wanted to give me my things back, that’s all. I don’t even need these things anymore, I’m probably just gonna get rid of it or donate them.” 

“Okay, if you say so. I just worry about you that’s all” Nayeon said while pulling Dahyun into a quick hug.

“I know, thank you but I’m fine” Dahyun said reassuringly. Nayeon seemed to accept that answer as she bid them both a good night and walked off the boat to go home. Momo followed soon after and nearly walked off the boat straight into the water since she was too distracted with texting her new waitress friend. 

Dahyun offered to walk Chaeyoung home again and she agreed. As they were walking, it was quiet and Chaeyoung was wondering about what Nayeon was referring to and as if Dahyun could read her mind, she said “I bet you’re wondering what that was all about.” 

“A little but I don’t want to pry it out of you if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, it’s okay. It was a while ago anyway and I’ve moved on. I used to date this girl. Her name was Mina and for a long time it seemed like our relationship was perfect. She was perfect. I had just gotten accepted into one of the higher music composition classes at school and I couldn’t wait to tell her. I decided to skip my last class of that day and went straight to her apartment and when I opened the door, I saw her on our couch making out with another girl. For the life of me I can’t even remember what that girl looked like, I just know that I was so hurt that I walked out without grabbing anything that belonged to me. Hence this box.” Dahyun said while shaking the box in her arms.

“Oh wow, I’m so sorry that happened to you, that must have hurt a lot.” Chaeyoung said feeling sorry for the girl but also immediately feeling guilty about the way she was acting earlier in the day. 

“That’s alright, I should have seen it coming. We were slowly drifting apart but I was in my own little bubble to see it. I’m happy now though and learned who I was without her again.”

“Well I’m glad. You’re a wonderful person and anyone would be dumb to let you go” Chaeyoung said. She suddenly felt a hand in hers and when she looked at Dahyun she saw that the girl was tearing up. 

“Thank you Chaeyoung, that means a lot. I’m very glad I met you, even if all you did the first time was met was yell at me.” 

“I’m sorry! I couldn’t believe some stranger had my bottle after I had just thrown it! I was desperate.” Chaeyoung said while facepalming.

“It’s okay, I guess you can say that it was fate I found it so quickly then” Dahyun said while laughing. 

They reached Chaeyoung’s apartment building and once again, neither had any idea how to bid the other goodbye. However, thinking about how she felt this morning, and for the third time since meeting Dahyun, Chaeyoung’s body moved against her mind and she pulled Dahyun into a tight hug. They stayed that way for a while until they pulled apart and said a simple “goodnight.” 

“Don’t forget to text me when you get home!” Chaeyoung yelled after Dahyun had taken a couple steps 

“Of course, sleep well Chaeyoung!” Dahyun yelled back.

Chaeyoung went up to her apartment and said a quick “hello. Hope you had a good day. Goodnight” to her roommate to avoid any questions and teasing before going to her room and closing the door. Tzuyu just sat there trying to process what just happened before continuing to watch TV.

Chaeyoung had just climbed into her bed when her phone vibrated.

“I’m home, no injuries or battle scars tonight thankfully! The mosquitos seemed to have surrendered. Goodnight Chaeyoung xx” Dahyun’s text read and Chaeyoung chuckled.

“You are so strong, thank you for sharing your war stories, I hope you sleep well too xoxo” Chaeyoung answered.

Both girls fell asleep with a smile on their faces and their head full of thoughts. Dahyun was wondering what else she could do to make Chaeyoung smile while Chaeyoung fell asleep wondering what on Earth she did to deserve Dahyun.


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's gonna be a slight time jump forward for this chapter!

As summer went on, the time that Dahyun and Chaeyoung spent together increased. They grew to be more and more comfortable with each other and eventually became the highlight of each other's day. Sometimes they would spend days on the boat or other times they would spend it anywhere else, just enjoying each other's company. However, both girls were busy today so they made up for it by texting back and forth whenever they could.

“Dahyun… hey! DAHYUN!”

“Oh sorry, I was just distracted. What’s up?” Dahyun said after hearing her name.

“I can see that. What do you think of this color?”

Dahyun was currently with her roommate shopping for a dress. Apparently the girl had a date tonight and wanted to “dress to impress.” as she said. Dahyun looked at the orange dress the girl was holding and made a sound of acknowledgement. 

“Yeah I think that’s fine.” she replied.

“I don’t want ‘fine’ I want ‘fiiiinnnneee’ if you know what I mean” the girl replied frustratedly. 

“I think you’ll look great in whatever you wear, Jihyo. Although now that I think about it, orange is more of a fall color don’t you think?” Dahyun answered while really looking at the dress this time. It was indeed very orange and long sleeved with brown ruffles on the collar, bottom hem and wrists. In short, it was actually kind of hideous. 

“See I knew you hate me and weren’t paying attention.” Jihyo said while putting the dress back onto the rack. 

“I don’t hate you! I was just distracted for a second but you have my whole attention now, I’m sorry!” Dahyun said while fully putting her phone away.

“Mhmmmm. What’s got you so distracted anyway? Your new girlfriend?” Jihyo said while turning and walking away so Dahyun couldn’t see her smirk. 

Dahyun blushed and chased after her “she isn’t my girlfriend! We hangout but we aren’t at that level yet..” 

“Yet?” Jihyo asked while picking up another dress. “Ooh pretty” she said but when she checked the price tag she said “yikes, not that pretty” and put it back on the rack. 

“I mean not at that level. Ever. We’re friends.” Dahyun replied sternly. 

“For nooooww” Jihyo teased.

“This is about you, not me! How about that dress up there?” Dahyun said, trying to get the attention away from her.

Jihyo looked at where Dahyun was pointing and saw a red dress on display that was way more extravagant and tight than she had even thought about. But before she could even reject the idea, Dahyun had already gotten the dress down and shoved it into Jihyo’s hands. 

“Go try it on!” 

“Dahyun I don’t really think that this is my style..” Jihyo said while looking down at the dress. (A/N: I’m not really good at describing things but imagine the dress Jihyo wears on the Fancy cover.)

While scanning all the different dresses, Dahyun couldn’t help but wonder which one she would look good in, which ones Chaeyoung would look good in, and what Chaeyoung would think if Dahyun showed up wearing an expensive dress. 

“You’ll never know until you put it on!” Dahyun said while shoving Jihyo towards the changing room. After she closed the curtain, she sat down and waited for her to come out by pulling out her phone and checking her messages.

Chaeyoung had texted her saying “Idk how but I got wrapped into helping Sana and her roommate clean out their apartment for things to donate or throw out. Not sure why Tzuyu decided to drag me into this when I have no sense of organization and can’t even help with carrying things. Hope you’re having a good day tho” 

Dahyun chucked at the text message and answered with “wow Son Chaeyoung helping others voluntarily? You’ve clearly been spending so much time with me.” 

“I should seriously consider putting this on my resume or get volunteer hours for doing this. Who knew Sana had so many things? I haven’t even officially met her roommate yet but I hope she isn’t the same way. I have only seen her a couple times from picking up or dropping Tzuyu off at their place so I can’t tell.” Chaeyoung answered with a picture of the pile of things in the hallway.

Before Dahyun could answer, Jihyo nervously stepped out of the changing room in front of Dahyun. “So? What do you think?” Jihyo asked while nervously smoothing out the sides of the dress.

Dahyun could only stare in awe for a second before saying “Park Jihyo, you look like a million bucks! I will be so shocked if he doesn’t ask you to marry him on the spot.” 

Jihyo smiled back and looked at herself in the mirror one last time before deciding that she was gonna get the dress. Both girls walked out of the mall happy. Jihyo because she was excited for her date later and Dahyun because she had gotten a really good soft pretzel.

-

Chaeyoung was shoving stuffed animals into a cardboard box when Tzuyu walked in with more bags, boxes, and tape. 

“Whoa what did those stuffed animals ever do to you?” Tzuyu said while watching her small friend try to fit four teddy bears in a box clearly made for three. 

“They’re so fat! Why does Sana have so many anyway?! You know other gifts exist, right? Preferably smaller ones. Ever heard of a necklace?” Chaeyoung asked while sitting on the box to close it. 

“I didn’t get her most of these! She probably brought some from home or some could be her roommates. Who knows” Tzuyu said while picking up more bears. Chaeyoung had a point, Sana did own an absurd amount of stuffed animals, not just bears. 

“You haven’t met her roommate yet?” Chaeyoung asked

“No, not yet. Sana usually spends time at our place and when I’m here her roommate is usually just in her room or out. She’s apparently really shy so I never got the chance. Hopefully she has less things than Sana though.”

“Yeah no kidding.” Chaeyoung picked up the box and walked into the living room when she heard the front door unlock and open. She was hoping that it was Sana coming back with lunch but unfortunately it wasn’t. Instead, she saw someone she wasn’t exactly expecting to see. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but the girl looked familiar, aside from the fact that Chaeyoung had only seen her from afar a couple times.

“Oh hi, you must be here to help Sana. Thanks for doing so, I'm her roommate!” the girl said while smiling. Chaeyoung had to admit, the girl was beautiful.

“Yeah no problem, I had nothing else planned today anyway besides rot on my couch watching dramas all day. I’m Chaeyoung by the way.” 

The girl laughed and was about to reply when another voice came from the hallway. Chaeyoung looked to her left and saw Tzuyu with the most shocked expression she’s ever seen from the girl. 

“Mina?” Tzuyu asked as if she couldn’t believe that the girl in front of her was really there.

“Tzuyu? Oh my gosh it’s been so long, how are you?” Mina asked, smiling and walking towards the girl. They awkwardly hugged and when they pulled apart, Tzuyu had the same confused expression on her face that Chaeyoung had.

“So you two know each other?” Chaeyoung asked while flicking her finger between Mina and Tzuyu.

“I mean kind of! We used to date. It was nothing serious though, honestly. Just a fling I had a couple years ago.” Mina said shyly, unsure of how she should describe what she had with Tzuyu.

It was as if every single question in the entire universe had just been answered in front of Chaeyoung. The gears in her head were working hard and from the outside, it probably looked as though she was about to combust. Tzuyu and Mina both looked at her strangely and asked if she was okay. Chaeyoung couldn’t hear them though because how deep in her mind she was and right before it could be assumed that Chaeyoung died in that spot, she finally added 2+2 and she gasped loudly.

“It was you… with you….” Chaeyoung said while once again pointing between Mina and Tzuyu except more wildly this time. 

“What is she talking about?” Mina asked Tzuyu in a concerned tone.

“I have no idea” Tzuyu shrugged. 

“You’re the girl that Mina cheated on Dahyun with..” Chaeyoung said in a quiet voice. Mina and Tzuyu had heard that clearly though and both froze and all three of them had any color on their face drained in about three seconds. 

Before any other revelation or any explanation could happen, the door busted open again with Sana rushing in yelling “I BROUGHT LUNCH! I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE PINEAPPLE PIZZA!! Oh hi Mina, you’re back!” She had no idea what just happened and was completely oblivious at how no one else in the room was moving except her. 

-

It was now 4:30 in the afternoon and Nayeon and Jeongyeon were currently over at Dahyun and Jihyo’s apartment. They were all helping Jihyo get ready for her date with Nayeon doing her makeup, Jeongyeon doing her hair, and Dahyun preparing her dress and accessories. Jihyo sat there thinking about how it takes an entire army to get a girl ready for a date while the guy just has to put on some nice pants, shoes, a dress shirt and some cologne and just calls it a day. 

“You’re going to look so good tonight Jihyo, you might even get scouted to be a model or idol.” Nayeon said while applying eyeshadow onto Jihyo’s eyelids. 

“I don’t know if I could ever do either of those things” Jihyo laughed. “Their lives seemed so controlled and I can’t even imagine trying to go on a date or getting a boyfriend without it suddenly becoming big news that trends for days.” 

“Yeah that’s true” everyone else nodded in agreement. About an hour later, Jihyo’s face and hair was finally complete and was in her bathroom putting her dress on. 

“You did a great job on her makeup, Nayeon” Dahyun complimented pouring herself a cup of water.

“Thanks, I just learned it from a YouTube tutorial. I call it “please treat me right, i’m sensitive but i’ll also rip your throat out so watch out’” Nayeon said proudly

Dahyun slightly choked on her drink and said “Yeah I’m not sure if that name is going to stick but I get the message.” Jihyo then walked out in her outfit and blushed in embarrassment when Nayeon and Jeongyeon started whooping loudly at how good she looked while Dahyun looked at her proudly. “Oh! I forgot my purse” Jihyo said, running back in her room when a knock was heard at the door. Dahyun opened it and saw a boy taller than her holding flowers and looking nervous. 

“Hi, uhh is Jihyo here?” he asked while scratching the back of his neck. 

“Yes she is and she’ll be right out but in the meantime, why don’t you and I have a little talk.” Nayeon said, pushing past Dahyun. Dahyun rolled her eyes and simply hoped her friend wouldn’t scare the boy away and went to go sit on the couch next to Jeongyeon. 

“Listen here boy. She better be back by 11pm or I’m calling the police. Also no kissing, only hand holding in 5 minute intervals, and you better keep your eyes on her beautiful face with the world's most incredible make up job and nowhere else, got it?” Nayeon said while pointing a finger at the boy's face. 

“Uhh yeah, got it. I promise.” He said while smiling slightly at the psycho lady in front of him.

“Nayeon please don’t scare him away, he just got here.” Jihyo said while walking to the front door. “Hi Daniel” she said shyly.

“Hi Jihyo, wow you look great! These are for you.” Daniel said while handing her the flowers.

“Wow these are beautiful! Would you mind putting these into water and a vase?” Jihyo said while giving the flowers to Nayeon. “Alright we’ll see you guys later!” Jihyo said while closing the door and walking out. 

“They grow up so fast” Nayeon said while wiping a fake tear. Dahyun and Jeongyeon rolled their eyes at her again and after putting the flowers into a vase with some water, she joined them on the couch to watch some dramas for the rest of the night. The entire time, Nayeon and Jeongyeon couldn’t keep their hands off of each other and even though Dahyun was happy that they had each other, she thought about how much she wanted Chaeyoung to be there with her. Not exactly doing what Nayeon and Jeongyeon were doing, she just wanted her there next to her watching this grossly cheesy drama. 

-

Lunch and dinner were both how you would say… awkward. Sana still had no idea about the situation going on right now, she was just glad her apartment was cleaned of all the unnecessary trash thanks to her girlfriend and her roommate. 

“Thank you guys so much for helping us out today! We promise that whenever you guys want the favor returned, don’t hesitate to call us!” Sana said while waving by and Chaeyoung and giving Tzuyu a goodbye kiss that lasted longer than Chaeyoung would’ve liked to watch.

“It was no problem, I’ll text you when we get home! Goodnight!” Tzuyu said, walking towards Chaeyoung and the elevators. Chaeyoung waved goodbye to Sana before she got onto the elevator with Tzuyu. They rode down in complete silence and were halfway down the street before Tzuyu had enough of the tension before she turned to look at Chaeyoung. 

“So do you wanna talk about anything?” She asked

“Not really.” Chaeyoung said. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be mad at Tzuyu or not. I mean sure Tzuyu probably didn’t know who Dahyun was at the time but the situation broke Dahyun’s heart and through association, broke Chaeyoung. 

“I know you probably think that I’m a terrible person for doing what I did and having a thing with Mina but I swear I had no idea that she had a girlfriend at the time. She never brought her up and I didn’t even know she existed until she walked in on us.” Tzuyu said

Somehow that didn’t make Chaeyoung feel better. Dahyun was such a great person, how could Mina not spend all day talking about her while dating her? That’s what Chaeyoung would do, not that Chaeyoung wanted to date Dahyun… right? 

“I believe you, I know it isn't your fault. She was just so hurt over the whole thing and it hurts me knowing that someone had caused so much pain to her. I mean seriously she’s the last person you should hurt. She’s nice, caring, funny, smart, and absolutely beautiful. It just baffles me that someone would ever think that she isn’t enough when she’s more than that, I wish someone would just give her the world she deserves.” Chaeyoung frustratedly said. Tzuyu just looked at her friend with her brows furrowed. 

“So why don’t you do that?” Tzuyu asked

“What?! Me?! No way, what do you mean? I can’t do that. I don’t even know how to do that.” Chaeyoung said in a panic tone.

“It seems like you do, you sound like you like her a lot. If you think she deserves the world then you should give it to her or at least try. You guys hangout pretty often now and I’m pretty sure she feels the same way. Otherwise you guys wouldn’t see each other so often, I swear you two see each other more than Sana and I do” Tzuyu said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Chaeyoung didn’t answer and was just deep in thought. They had reached their own apartment building and went up to their apartment. They bid each other a goodnight and got ready for bed. Chaeyoung was laying in bed playing games on her phone when she got a call incoming from the girl who had never left her mind recently. 

“Hello?” Chaeyoung said after swiping the answer button.

“How do you feel about watching dramas?” Dahyun asked.

“With you? Or just in general?”

“Both?”

“I feel like I would enjoy both of those things, why?”

“Just curious, we should get together and watch them soon! I can’t stand being the third wheel to Nayeon and Jeongyeon anymore. I can only take so much of Nayeon fake crying at sad scenes so that Jeongyeon will comfort her.” Dahyun said with a fake vomit sound.

“So you saw that and thought ‘you know who would really enjoy third wheeling also? Chaeyoung! Because she doesn’t do that enough with her roommate and her girlfriend!’” Chaeyoung answered while laughing.

“I mean technicalllyyyy you wouldn’t be third wheeling, you would have me there too.” 

“Are you subtly asking me to be your date, Kim Dahyun?” 

“Only if you want to be, Son Chaeyoung. You would be my knight in shining armor from this world full of couples and weirdos.” 

“It would be my honor, my damsel in distress” 

“Great! Any time you’re free just let me know, you’re always welcome to come over!” 

“I should be free the day after tomorrow”

“Sweet, you know where I live, come over any time. I’m going to bed now though, I hope you sleep well and dream of me, goodnight!” and Chaeyoung swears she can hear the wink Dahyun just shot her from over the phone.

“I can’t control my dreams but I’ll try my best, goodnight Hyun” Chaeyoung said laughing before she hung up. 

Maybe Tzuyu was right, maybe she did like Dahyun more than she had thought. All she knew was that the girl never left her mind and now Chaeyoung had something to look forward to within the next few days. She put her phone down and drifted off to sleep.

In the room across the hall, Tzuyu was still awake. She was thinking and feeling guilty about how much pain she had caused a girl she didn’t even know. It seemed like it was too late to fix anything and bringing it up again to either Mina and Dahyun, whom Tzuyu had never even met, seemed like a terrible idea. She could only hope that the day she may eventually meet Dahyun, the girl would either not recognize her or if she did, not bring it up. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always unsure of how to end a chapter lol sometimes I want it to be a cliffhanger but other times I feel like that's just too mean. Anyway, I appreciate each and every one of you for reading this even if it's messy at times, it means a lot!


	6. Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for any typos, the fault is all mine and i try to catch as many as i can.

Chaeyoung nervously walked toward the front doors of Dahyun’s apartment building. She triple checked the address she was sent to make sure that she was at the right place. Although the building in front of her was a typical apartment building, it was much nicer than the one Chaeyoung lived in. Her apartment was still a very nice one and she was fortunate to live in such a place but the one Dahyun lived in was much better. It kinda made sense to Chaeyoung though considering Dahyun just sails around in a boat most days. She approached the front door and rang the bell to Dahyun’s apartment number.

“Hello?” a voice called out.

“Uhh hey, it’s Chaeyoung.” 

“Oh you must be one of Dahyun’s friends, let me buzz you in.” 

Surely enough the door in front of her made a loud buzzing sound and she opened it and went in. The ride to the 16th floor felt like an eternity for Chaeyoung when in reality it was probably 45 seconds at most. She knocked on the door of the apartment and was greeted by a girl with large eyes and an even larger smile. 

“Hey! You must be Chaeyoung, nice to meet you! I’m Jihyo!” Chaeyoung swears that she has never had a stranger more excited to meet her before but something about this girl's happiness made her happy too and she sent a wide smile back. 

“Hey nice to meet you too! Thanks for buzzing me in.” 

“Oh yeah no problem. Dahyun stepped out to the convenient store downstairs real quick, she’ll be back soon just make yourself at home.” Jihyo said while leading Chaeyoung to the living room. 

“Thanks, your apartment is really nice” Chaeyoung said, noting the high quality furniture around her. However she did notice that the walls were mostly bare. “Why don’t you have anything on the walls like pictures or paintings or something?” she asked.

Jihyo’s smile slightly dropped and she got a sad look in her eyes before answering “there used to be pictures up. They were of Dahyun and her ex-girlfriend but she took them all down a little while after they broke up.” Chaeyoung suddenly felt guilty for asking such a question and felt as though it wasn’t her place to ask in the first place but before she could apologize, Jihyo spoke again. 

“Don’t be sorry for asking if that’s what you’re thinking. The walls do look pretty empty and it seems creepy that way doesn’t it?” Jihyo said while laughing lightly. “Dahyun doesn’t really like talking about that part of her life but she isn’t completely closed off to it either if you know what I mean.” Chaeyoung nodded and before she could ask any other questions about Dahyun and continue the conversation, the front door opened and Dahyun walked in with many bags hanging from her hands, arms and even a small one hanging from her mouth. 

Chaeyoung and Jihyo got up from the couch and helped take the bags from her and set them down on the kitchen counter.

“Hey Chaeng, I didn’t expect you to be here this early. Did you wait here long?” Dahyun said while pulling Chaeyoung into a tight hug. 

“No, I just got here and Jihyo is really good at keeping me company.” Chaeyoung said while hugging back and smiling.

“Her first time over and you’re already trying to steal my girl, Jihyo?” Dahyun said while chucking the small bag in Jihyo’s direction which she easily caught in her hands. Jihyo looked inside and saw that Dahyun had gotten her a roll of her favorite sponge cake from the store.

“I am not trying to steal _your_ girl, Dubu. I have my own boyfriend, thank you very much. Speaking of which I better go get ready to go out with him later. Have fun, love birds.” Jihyo winked at them and walked back into her own room. Dahyun rolled her eyes and started unpacking the bags. 

“I’m not sure what kind of snacks you like so I got a bunch.” she said while pulling out an assortment of different flavored chips, cakes and drinks. “Nayeon and Jeongyeon should be over soon by the way so I suggest you take the snacks you like first before the two of them come in and hijack everything like the savages they are.” Chaeyoung laughed and grabbed a bottle of strawberry milk before settling back on the couch. Nayeon and Jeongyeon barged in 10 minutes later and immediately grabbed as many handfuls of snacks they could before going to their usual spot on the couch to the far left.

“Hey Chaeyoung! How’s it going? This is my servant, Jeongyeon.” Nayeon said while referring to the girl with short blonde hair next to her. 

“She wishes. Hi I’m Nayeon’s _girlfriend_ ” Jeongyeon said while shaking Chaeyoung’s hand. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Chaeyoung, Dahyun’s… friend.” Chaeyoung had to think for a second. What were they actually? Friends for sure but were they more than that? They hugged whenever they could, have become accustomed to holding each other's hands whenever they walked next to each other and talked everyday. Chaeyoung was almost certain that she had developed a crush on the older girl but couldn’t tell if the other felt the same. Nayeon and Jeongyeon both picked up on the pause but neither of them questioned it. 

Dahyun eventually joined them on the couch with her own snacks and sat a little further away from Chaeyoung than she had liked. Maybe Dahyun really did just see her as a close friend and Chaeyoung was going to be stuck in this one-sided love. 

“So what do you guys wanna watch?” Dahyun asked while turning on the TV and flipping through the shows. 

“A romantic drama!!” Nayeon said excitedly.

“We watched one of those last time and you watched Jeongyeon more than you watched the show” Dahyun groaned. 

“Just put one on! A funny one too!” Nayeon said while ignoring Dahyun’s eye rolls. She hit play on Let’s Fight! Ghost and looked at Nayeon who gave her a thumbs up in approval while snuggling into Jeongyeon. Dahyun grabbed her bowl of popcorn and sat back on the couch. She offered Chaeyoung the bowl who was about three feet farther away from her than she would have liked and the younger girl took some before focusing on the show. Everytime Dahyun offered her some, Chaeyoung slowly and slowly got closer to her whether she realized it or not and Dahyun kept doing so until they were practically in the same position as Nayeon and her prisoner Jeongyeon but without all the kissing. 

They hadn’t noticed before Dahyun sat up to hit the continue watching button when Netflix asked if they were still there and Chaeyoung missed her warmth. When Dahyun leaned back again, she got a little bolder and fully put her arm around Chaeyoung and held her closer than before and Chaeyoung was grateful that the lights in the room were off and no one could see her madly blushing at their proximity. 

“Are you comfortable?” Dahyun whispered. Chaeyoung nodded and snuggled closer into Dahyun’s body. 

Throughout the show, Jeongyeon kept making the lamest jokes ever and Chaeyoung couldn’t help but laugh at them. What can she say? They were quality jokes. Dahyun and Nayeon just shared a confused look whenever that happened. They had no idea how either Jeongyeon or Chaeyoung thought their jokes were funny when they just weren’t.

“What’s a ghost's favorite plant? Bam-BOO!” Jeongyeon said while barely containing her laughter enough to get the joke out. Chaeyoung also busted out in laughter and gave Jeongyeon and high five while Nayeon looked like she was about to punch both of them. 

“Okay it’s getting late and I’m gonna get this comedian here home before she’s too delusional to drive.” Nayeon said while pulling Jeongyeon to the door. Dahyun got up to say goodbye to them and walked them out.

“Bye Chaeyoung! I hope we meet again soon to compare jokes!” Jeongyeon yelled on her way out. Chaeyoung laughed while giving her a thumbs up and waving goodnight at Nayeon. Dahyun closed the door and walked back to Chaeyoung and pulled her into a hug. 

“Let me drive you home, it’s late.” Dahyun said while putting her jacket on and grabbing her keys.

“Are you sure? It seems like a lot of effort for you to drive me there just to come back. I can just call a taxi really quick” Chaeyoung said while pulling out her phone. 

“No it’s okay. I would feel better doing it myself and driving at night calms me down enough to give me a good night's sleep anyway.” Dahuyn said while putting her shoes on. 

The ride home was comfortably quiet and at some point during the ride, their hands found each other and Chaeyoung was sitting in the passenger seat of Dahyun’s car with their hands held tightly in her lap. Dahyun walked Chaeyoung up all the way to the front door.

“You know you didn’t actually have to laugh at Jeongyeon’s jokes, right?” Dahyun said while smiling at Chaeyoung.

“I know I didn’t have to but I did because they were so funny!” Chaeyoung said while remembering one and laughing again. Chaeyoung could not control her laughter as she continued to think of funny things and Dahyun could not understand why she was laughing for so long. Although the sound of Chaeyoung’s laughter was music to Dahyun’s ears she decided to shut her up. When Chaeyoung had slightly calmed down and started to wipe her tears, Dahyun cupped her cheeks and leaned in. Chaeyoung was utterly shocked at the action and all her doubts of Dahyun liking her back disappeared when their lips met. 

It was one of the softest kisses Chaeyoung had ever experienced, even when she tilted her head to deepen it. She wrapped her arms around Dahyun’s waist and they stood there kissing each other outside Chaeyoung’s front door. Before anything else could happen, the door opened and Tzuyu was about to walk out when she saw what was happening in front of her and both girls pulled away quickly.

“Oh my gosh I am SO SORRY I had no idea you were out here!” Tzuyu said while shielding her eyes even though she had already seen everything and the two girls in front of her were already standing five feet apart. Chaeyoung covered her face and Dahyun looked at the floor as all three of them were blushing furiously. Tzuyu looked at Dahyun and realized who she was and slightly turned her head the other direction to avoid eye contact. This actually made it much worse however because how Dahyun could see Tuzyu’s side profile and it was as if she was thrown back in time to the last time she saw her. 

“Wait I know you…” Dahyun said while looking at Tzuyu with her eyebrows furrowed. Chaeyoung looked up and saw how Dahyun looked at Tzuyu like she was about to solve the world's greatest puzzle and her heart stopped once she realized what was about to be uncovered. 

“Uhh.. No I don’t think we’ve ever met” Tzuyu said while scratching the back of her neck.

“Maybe not officially but I’ve definitely seen you before. I last saw you when you were attached to my now ex-girlfriend. Right?” Dahyun said

Tzuyu had no idea what to say. She had never expected to meet this girl, let alone be confronted like this, all she had wanted to do was take the trash out. Tzuyu thought for a second before hesitantly answering “yeah.. That was me. I know apologizing probably won’t mean anything to you at this point now but I want you to know how sorry I am. I had no idea that you existed and had no intention in breaking up your relationship.” 

Dahyun wasn’t sure how to feel. She had finally gotten over the situation and all of the sudden she was thrown back into it. The last thing she was expecting was an apology, however. She had received many of those from Mina in the past but none of them felt like the one she was getting from the girl in front of her.

“Dahyun I’m sorry you had to face it like this but she’s telling the truth.” Chaeyoung interjected

“Wait.. you knew? You knew what happened between me and Mina and who caused it? You _live with her?_ ” Dahyun asked with a shocked tone and expression. 

“Well.. Yes. That day I was helping Tzuyu’s girlfriend and her roommate was the day I found out.. The roommate was Mina” Chaeyoung said quietly, trying her best to explain herself. 

Dahyun just looked between the two and didn’t say anything and walked away towards the elevators. 

“Dahyun! Dahyun don’t go! Let us at least explain everything!” Chaeyoung pleaded after her. 

“You don’t need to. I have to go.” Dahyun said while getting in the elevator. She didn’t look up while the doors were closing while Chaeyoung was secretly begging her to make eye contact. 

“Chaeyoung I’m so sorry” Tzuyu said while looking sadly at Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung sighed and slowly turned and walked into the apartment.

“Don’t be, it isn’t your fault. I should have told her sooner instead of keeping it a secret.” 

-

That night, neither girls could fall asleep. Both wondered what this would mean for their friendship. They had worked so hard to build the relationship they had now for it all to come crashing down so quickly. 

Chaeyoung was laying in her bed with Tzuyu’s arms around her as the tall girl tried to comfort her small friend while Dahyun was being comforted by Jihyo.

  
  



	7. Seven

It had been almost three weeks since Dahyun and Chaeyoung had spoken. It wasn’t out of not trying for Chaeyoung, however. She had called and texted Dahyun multiple times but ended up with no answer every time. She had even gone to the docks to check if Dahyun was there but was met with an empty boat each time. The emptiness and the little “delivered” icon next to Dahyun’s name was starting to make Chaeyoung go crazy as she felt more and more guilty every day. 

Chaeyoung opened the door to her apartment and threw herself onto the couch and slammed her head face down into the cushions. Sana who was sitting on the couch watching TV at the time looked at the body next to her questioningly and poked it. “Hey are you good?” Sana asked

“If by ‘good’ you mean that life is a bottomless pit of despair and there’s no point in trying to climb out of it because it’ll only make you sink deeper and the things that once made waking up in the morning easier became the reason why you hate waking up then yes… I’m good.” Chaeyoung said with her voice slightly muffled by the pillows. 

“Not exactly what I meant but I guess…” Sana said while rubbing Chaeyoung’s back

“Still haven’t heard anything from her?” Tzuyu said while walking into the room and crouching down next to Chaeyoung’s head. 

“No, it’s like she disappeared off the face of the Earth. I can’t even be mad at her for doing so since it’s my fault anyway.” Chaeyoung said, finally looking up to breathe and look at Tzuyu.

“It isn’t though, Chaeng. You had no idea what happened back then and you were as shocked as she was when this all came together. I’m sorry that this happened but this is all honestly more my fault than it is yours. I’m the one that was making out with her girlfriend right in front of her eyes, not you.” Tzuyu said, trying to stop any potential tears that came out of Chaeyoung’s eyes. 

“Wait, you did what?!” Sana said wide eyed. “You were making out with girls?!”

“This was before I had even met you, Sana” Tzuyu said.

  
“But STILL. You’ve kissed another girl?”

“Babe, you really don’t believe that you’re the only girl I’ve ever been with right?” Tzuyu said with her eyebrows quirked up.

“I’ve never thought about it but now I am!” Sana said while moving across the couch with her arms crossed.

“Sana you can’t expect Tzuyu to be as inexperienced as you thought she was. I mean look at her, there isn’t a single person who wouldn’t risk it all to be with Chou Tzuyu. Well maybe except me because she’s my best friend and thinking of her that way grosses me out.” Chaeyoung said while Tzuyu nodded at the last part. 

Sana refused to look at either of them and kept her eyes glued to the TV in front of her while still pouting and crossed her arms. Tzuyu sighed and rolled her eyes internally before moving over to crouch in front of Sana. She rested her hands on Sana’s thighs and took a second to recollect herself before looking at her crazy girlfriend.

“Baby I’m sorry for being unfaithful to you before I met you and got into a relationship with you. Can you please forgive me?” Tzuyu said while looking at Sana’s face.

Sana momentarily looked down at Tzuyu before returning her eyes back to the TV. “When you say it like that it makes me sound like a psycho.” 

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean it like that. I just want you to know that although you may not have been my first, I want you to be my last. I can’t imagine my life without you and I don’t want to. The reason why there were so many others before you was because none of them didn’t make me feel the way you do and I don’t have anything else to look for when I’m with you. I want to grow old with you and no one else.” Tzuyu said with her eyes still glued on Sana.

Sana flickered her eyes back down to Tzuyu’s trying to see if she was being serious or not before pulling Tzuyu up into a hug. “Okay, I’m sorry, I love you a lot and hate the thought of you with anyone else.” Sana mumbled into Tzuyu’s shoulder. 

“I love you more” Tzuyu said while giving Sana a short kiss.

Suddenly, a loud but slightly muffled gagging sound came from the other side of the couch and they looked over to see Chaeyoung face down again trying to refrain from barfing. 

“Sorry Chaeyoung” Sana giggled.

“No no it’s fine, just rub it in that the love of my life is gone. She probably sailed off into the night with the prettiest girl in the country to start a new life on their own island and live happily ever after. Even though there is rarely anyone prettier than Tzuyu around here. It’s probably Kim Jisoo, she’s so pretty. God I hate Kim Jisoo. They wouldn’t even have to go through the trouble of changing their last names if they got married.” Chaeyoung rambled from the depths of the couch.

Tzuyu and Sana shared a look before Tzuyu got off of Sana and went to Chaeyoung and pulled her up again. 

“You and I both know that that probably didn’t happen. Didn’t you say that her boat is still at the docks? So she’s still here. You also love Kim Jisoo and she’s been dating Jennie for like four years anyway so I don’t think your theory is realistic.” Tzuyu reasoned, trying to put some sense into Chaeyoung. 

“Come on, there’s no point in just moping around here. Let’s go out and do something fun!” Sana said while lifting Chaeyoung up off the couch. 

“So I can watch you guys be the perfect couple out in public when I can do that from the comfort of my own home? No thank you.” Chaeyoung said while plopping back down. 

“We promise we don’t do anything gross. You can walk in between us and everything, it’ll be fine. We can do whatever you want to do!” Sana offered. 

After some pestering, Chaeyoung finally agreed just to get them to stop. They all left the apartment together and ended up at the mall. 

After some shopping with Sana leading the way through all of the department stores, they were now sitting at a table in the food court by the pretzel stand. Tzuyu and Sana were sharing a large pretzel while Chaeyoung had a cup of small pretzel bites for herself. 

Sana and Tzuyu’s relationship didn’t bother Chaeyoung at all, she was really glad that her best friend was able to find someone that makes her so happy despite Tzuyu acting like Sana is a pain in her ass all the time, even though she probably is, but in a good way. 

“Are you having fun yet, Chaeyoung?” Sana asked while ripping off another piece of the pretzel to give to Tzuyu.

“Yeah I guess, it’s better than just rotting away on my bed or the couch I suppose.” Chaeyoung said while drowning her pretzel bite in cheese sauce.

“We can do whatever you want now, I don’t think my closet can take any more clothes being stuffed into it” Sana said while referring to the many shopping bags under the table at her feet.

“I’m not sure what I want to do, honestly. I mean I do know what I want, I want to see Dahyun.” Chaeyoung said while staring into her cup of pretzel bites. “But since I can’t do that right now, I don’t know. I just want to make some changes I guess.” 

“Like what? You wanna redecorate your room or something?” Tzuyu asked while drinking her orange slush. 

“Maybe, who knows.” Chaeyoung said and looked at Tzuyu drinking her drink for a second before an idea popped in her head and Chaeyoung felt every muscle in her brain and body jolt with excitement. 

“Or maybe, I do know.” She said while hurriedly dragging Sana and Tzuyu up and rushing them towards the other end of the mall.

-

“HOW COULD YOU?! AFTER ALL I’VE DONE FOR YOU, THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT ME?!” Dahyun yelled at Momo.

“TOP 10 ANIME BETRAYALS” Momo yelled back. 

Dahyun, Momo, and Jeongyeon were currently in an extremely heated round of Mario Kart on Jeongyeon’s switch. Momo had just thrown a blue shell at Dahyun who was in first place and sped by her before her character had recovered. 

“Hey I’m about to go to the grocery store, do you guys want anything?” Nayeon said while sticking her head into the living room. 

“Tteokbokki” Jeongyeon said

“Choco pies” Dahyun said

“Jokbal” Momo said

None of them looked up from the game they were playing when they replied and Nayeon rolled her eyes. 

“I’ll see what I can do” she said before leaving.

Jeongyeon ended up winning that round by coming from behind and was celebrating by throwing around some killer moves. 

“I hope it was worth it.” Dahyun said to Momo while watching how Jeongyeon moved like uncooked spaghetti.

“It was at the moment but not so much right now” Momo, being the trained dancer she is, cringed.

“You guys are just mad that you lost to me. AGAIN.” Jeongyeon said.

“Trust me, sleeping in the room next to you and Nayeon is enough of a loss for me.” Dahyun said, shivering when she recalled the sounds she hears from the room next to hers at night. 

“You haven’t gone back to your own apartment yet?” Momo asked while walking to the fridge to get a drink.

“No, not yet. Whenever I’m there I feel slightly smothered by Jihyo. I know she means well but her trying to comfort me reminds me of what happened the first time around with you-know-who. I told her that I’m gonna be gone for a couple days and will be back soon. Although if you want you guys want your apartment back to yourselves Jeong, I don’t mind going back at all. I don’t want to extend my stay here.” Dahyun said, turning to Jeongyeon who waved her off. 

“Nonsense. We like having you here, the place is livier even though you’re going through stuff right now. We will try to keep our nights quiet from now on though.” Jeongyeon said while laughing lightly. 

“Maybe I should go back though, I can’t run forever, I can’t get over it and grow past it if I keep avoiding it. Plus it’s just Jihyo, she has done nothing but give me the best so maybe I shouldn’t have left her like that.” Dahyun said, feeling sad now that she ditched someone who had only wanted the best for her.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, it was a sudden change in your life you weren’t expecting. No one is blaming you for not being ready.” Momo said while sitting back down next to her. 

“It wasn’t just Jihyo I shouldn’t have ditched either.” Dahyun said softly even though both Jeongyeon and Momo heard it. Dahyun was angry with herself for more than a couple of reasons. She was missing Chaeyoung terribly and wasn’t used to not seeing her after being with each other for practically the entire summer. 

“I think I’ll go back to my own place tonight. Jihyo won’t be home until after work so I’ll stop by a bakery and get her her favorite sponge cake on my way back.” Dahyun said.

“Okay, whatever works for you. The guest room is always open for you if you ever need it.” Jeongyeon told her while patting her head.

“Thanks, Jeong. I really appreciate you and Nayeon letting me stay for a couple days.” Dahyun said gratefully.

Later that night, Dahyun packed her things and thanked Nayeon and Jeongyeon before leaving their place. Instead of going home right away, she made her way towards the city plaza to pick up Jihyo’s cake that she had placed an order for earlier. What she didn’t expect when she got there was to be rushed down by a girl she had never seen before demanding to see her phone.

-

“Are you really sure that this is what you want to do?” Sana asked slowly while watching Chaeyoung.

“Yup. I said I wanted change and this is what I came up with. You can thank Tzuyu for this.” Chaeyoung said while sitting in the chair. 

“Me? What do I have to do with you wanting to dye your hair orange?” Tzuyu asked incredulously. 

“Your orange slush gave me inspiration” Chaeyoung said. Sana and Tzuyu looked at the cup in Tzuyu’s hand and shook their heads. 

“So if I would have gotten a blue raspberry one, would you be dying your hair blue?” Tzuyu asked.

“Probably, who knows.” Chaeyoung answered calmly.

“Damn that would have been cool.” Tzuyu cursed at herself for getting orange.

“You two are absolutely insane, I don’t think I can watch this. I’m gonna go get myself dessert.” Sana said while shaking her head and grabbing her wallet and walking out of the hair salon. 

She walked down the sidewalk until she spotted a bakery a little while later and hurriedly walked into it. As she was scanning the display trying to decide on which pastry she wanted, she accidentally overheard the conversation at the register.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up an order I called in earlier.” a customer said.

“Okay, great! May I have your name?” the cashier asked.

“Kim Dahyun.” 

Sana’s head snapped up and looked in the direction of the counter. It couldn’t be could it? Is that the girl that Chaeyoung has been heartbroken over for weeks? There was one way to find out. Anger for Chaeyoung took over her and she marched straight over to the girl and tapped on her shoulder unnecessarily hard. 

“Yes?” The girl looked at her confused. 

“Can I see your phone?” Sana asked. Out of all the things she could have asked, why did she ask that one?

“Uhh, why?” the girl asked, even more confused.

“Just let me see it, I need to check something. I swear I’m not trying to steal it, I’m not even gonna move from this spot, I just wanna see something.” Sana said. The girl hesitantly handed over her phone and Sana took it and opened the phone app and quickly checked the messages app and found what she was looking for. 

“I knew it.” Sana said, handing the phone back to the girl and looking her with lasers in her eyes.

The girl, now slightly afraid, asked “what were you looking for?”

“You’ve been ignoring Chaeyoung for weeks now! How could you do that to her?! She’s been totally heartbroken over you and you’re out here buying CAKE?! IN THIS ECONOMY?!” Sana’s voice started getting louder and louder and she was starting to attract attention from the other customers. 

“You know Chaeyoung? How do you know who I am? Who are you?” The girl asked, even more scared now.

“Yes of course I know Chaeyoung and she is one of the greatest people I know and if she wasn’t so in love with you then I would snap you in half right now! You have some nerve doing that to someone, Dahyun.” Sana said angrily.

“Wait what? She’s what? Did you just say that she’s in love with me?” Dahyun asked, shocked.

Sana suddenly realized what she said and her mouth made an ‘O’ shape and before she could backtrack what she said, the cashier came back and handed Dahyun a roll of cake. 

“Here you go ma’am, that will be $15.” she said with a smile. However, that smile slowly turned to confusion when Dahyun was just standing there holding the cake while staring at Sana without saying anything. Eventually Dahyun processed the situation and paid the cashier before turning back to Sana.

“Uhh, nice to meet you… I guess but I need to go now.” Dahyun said while scurrying out of the store quickly. Dahyun called for a cab and looked around before getting into the car and telling the driver the address. The last thing she saw before getting in was a flash of bright orange hair coming down the street but that was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this story is probably going to be 10 chapters long. Any more would be too much and dragging it out too far in my opinion but if someone would like another story with a different prompt, let me know!


	8. Eight

Chaeyoung was definitely not used to having orange hair and bangs. Every time she woke up in the morning and looked in the mirror, she was surprised for a second before she remembered that she had dyed her hair. She was currently playing with her new hair while watching some spy movie with Sana and Tzuyu.

“I think spies are so cool, I should look to become one.” Sana stated while closely watching how the agent on the screen was quietly maneuvering his way around a warehouse. 

“With what athletic ability?” Tzuyu asked with a deadpan expression on her face.

“I can totally learn! Right Chaeyoung?” Sana asked while looking at Chaeyoung.

“I don’t know Sana, I’ve barely seen you walk around our apartment without bumping into something every time you get up so I think I’m gonna have to side with Tzuyu on this one.” Chaeyoung replied

“But I would look SO GOOD in a spy outfit don’t you think?” Sana asked while daydreaming about herself.

“You know what you would look really good in?” Chaeyoung asked. Both Sana and Tzuyu looked at her with a confused expression.

“What?” Sana asked.

“Your own apartment.” Chaeyoung said with a straight face still looking at the TV. Tzuyu bursted out into laughter and Sana grabbed the nearest pillow and started attacking Chaeyoung with it while she grabbed one too and started to fight back. Both girls ended up laying on the floor not even 3 minutes later out of breath and Tzuyu counted it as a loss for the both of them. 

“I think Chaeyoung would make a better spy than the both of us, babe. She’s smaller and can move around faster without getting caught.” Tzuyu stated. Sana pouted and admitted that Tzuyu was right about that. She was about to give up her dream of becoming a spy after 5 minutes when Chaeyoung suddenly started jumping up and down.

“SANA! SANA! SANA!” She said, still jumping.

“WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?” Sana said back while starting to jump too.

“How do you feel about going on a one-time spy mission with me? I could really use your help.” Chaeyoung said as she stopped jumping.

Sana also stopped jumping and tilted her head slightly. “What kind of mission?”

“We’re going to go get my bottle back.” Chaeyoung said confidently.

“What?” Sana and Tzuyu said at the same time. “Why?” 

“Because! It doesn’t seem like Dahyun has a use for it anymore if we aren’t friends and I would like it back. She broke the deal.” 

Sana thought about it for a second. Breaking into wherever this bottle is and helping Chaeyoung take something DID seem like an exciting thing to do. It isn’t stealing if it belonged to Chaeyoung in the first place, right? 

“Will we get to wear cool all black spy outfits?” Sana asked.

“Really? That’s your question? Not the breaking and entering and stealing part?” Tzuyu asked from the couch. 

“You can’t fight crime if you’re not cute!” Sana said while rolling her eyes. She rolled over on the floor to get closer to Chaeyoung who was also now laying on the floor and continued. “So what are we gonna do?”

“We can wear whatever you want to wear, I’ll let you be in charge of that.” Chaeyoung said and Sana clapped excitedly. “I’m not sure what to do though. The bottle is either on her boat or in her apartment which are two very different things.” 

“We can check both. Do you know her schedule?” 

“Not really. Just that she thinks spending all her time at her apartment is boring and her boat is usually where she is on the weekends.” Chaeyoung said while thinking.

“That’s good then. We can check her apartment while she’s out on her boat or doing other things and then at night we can go to the docks and check the boat.” Sana said.

“This is absolutely insane, if you guys get arrested and put into a cell, don’t call me.” Tzuyu said while shaking her head.

“You’re just mad you’re not invited!” Sana said. Tzuyu rolled her eyes and continued to watch her movie. 

“That’s actually not a bad idea, Sana.” Chaeyoung said while perking up. “We can start at the boat tonight, say 10 o’clock?” 

“Perfect! That gives me enough time to go plan our outfits!! I’ll see you guys later tonight!” Sana said while getting up quickly. She gave Tzuyu a kiss before rushing out of their apartment to go prepare for her mission tonight. Chaeyoung shrugged it off and sat back on the couch next to Tzuyu.

“You are invited to come if you want.” Chaeyoung said 

“No thanks, I’m good. If you need anything then you can call me but I think I’ll just wait for your call at the police station from here.” Tzuyu said while grabbing a handful of popcorn. Chaeyoung laughed and did the same while trying to mentally prepare for looking for her precious bottle. 

-

Momo was currently at the farmers market picking up things that the ship may need for sailing tomorrow. She had a lot of things piled up in her arms- most of them being snacks for the trip but other important things too. She was walking along the road when she suddenly bumped into someone while she was looking at produce.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going at all.” Momo said while picking up her things. She looked up and was met with a face she had never seen before but one she didn’t want to stop looking at. 

“That’s alright, I wasn’t really looking either, I’m sorry too!” The girl said in a soft voice while she was helping her pick up her things and handing them to her. 

“Th-thanks. Uhh I can take that from you.” Momo said while trying to restack everything in her arms and she cursed herself for not bringing a bag with her today. The other girl giggled at how Momo was fumbling with everything.

“Here, you can use my bag.” She said while taking out a tote bag and started to put Momo’s things into it. She handed her the bag and Momo was not all that surprised when she felt how soft the girls hands were. Soft face, soft voice and soft skin? That was simply unfair, she thought. 

“Oh thank you. How will I give this back to you though?” Momo asked while taking the bag.

“You can keep it if you want, I have plenty. Plus you can always bring it back here to use next time.” The girl waved off. 

“I have some of my own, I just didn’t think of bringing any today. I didn’t think I was gonna get so many things but there were so many good deals! Is it okay if I get your number so I can just text you to give it back soon?” Momo asked. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous to ask. She had many girls numbers and she had never been anything less than confident.

“Sure, hand me your phone.” the girl giggled while swapping phones with Momo. The girl typed in her number and handed the phone back. 

“Thanks. What’s your name? I can type in that part myself.” Momo said.

“Mina. Myoui Mina.” She replied before waving goodbye and walking away.

A strange feeling swept over Momo but she brushed it off and moved on. She continued to shop for things before dropping it off on the boat and going about the rest of her day. 

Typically, the last person to leave the boat would lock it up to keep any robbers out but Momo knew that later in the day, one of the crewmen would come and fix one of the broken doors on the ship. However, in the midst of exchanging numbers with Mina earlier, she failed to see the text she had gotten from the crewman telling her that he was gonna come in the morning instead of tonight. She walked away leaving the boat unlocked. 

-

“Flashlight?”

“Check.”

“Duct tape?”

“Check.”

“Scissors?”

“Check.”

“Cute reflective tape on your arm so we don’t get hit by cars at night?”

“Check. Although I don’t see the point of wearing all black if we have reflective tape on.”

“Safety first, Chaeyoung.” 

Chaeyoung and Sana were preparing to leave for most of the night with backpacks lightly packed with whatever they may need. Tzuyu sat there thinking that they were being ridiculous trying to act like spies or secret agents but she had to admit, they did look pretty good and Sana did well on making outfits. They bid Tzuyu goodbye until the morning and Tzuyu reminded them to not call her unless it was an actual emergency before she headed off to bed.

“So, do you think your bottle is gonna be on the boat?” Sana asked while walking next to Chaeyoung.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen it in awhile and I’ve never actually been into her personal quarters on the boat.” 

“Do you think she’s hiding something in there?”

“Other than the bottle? No. She has nothing to hide really.” 

Sana simply nodded at that and they kept walking until they reached the docks. They found the boat quickly due to it being one of the biggest and cleanest ones there. Usually there would be a ramp leading up to the main deck of the boat to get on but there isn’t now that no one was here. 

“So.. How are we gonna get up there?” Sana asked while looking up. 

“I have no idea. I didn’t really consider that we can’t just walk onto it.” Chaeyoung said, feeling stupid. 

They walked down the dock on either side of the boat and couldn’t find anything that could help them out. Walking in circles had tired Sana out pretty quickly and she caught up on her breathing by resting and leaning on the boat. 

“I guess you can say I’m quite the bad girl” Sana said while leaning on the boat. As soon as she leaned on the side of the ship, she pushed a door open and she fell in. 

“Well. I guess you’re right, you’re bad at everything.” Chaeyoung said, stepping into the boat and helping Sana up. 

“Another key aspect of the mission solved by the great Minatozaki Sana!” 

They pulled out their flashlights and started walking through the boat with Chaeyoung leading the way since she had been there plenty of times. Sana kept bumping into things since it was dark even with the flashlight and Chaeyoung was afraid of someone hearing them even though she knew that no one actually lived on the boat. Eventually, they reached Dahyun’s door and when they tried to open it, it was locked.

“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be locked?” Chaeyoung said exasperatedly.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” Sana said while holding up a finger. 

Chaeyoung watched in amazement as Sana pulled out a credit card from her wallet and went to work on the lock by swiping it a couple times while Chaeyoung looked around to make sure that no one was coming. After a couple swipes, the lock clicked and the door opened. 

Dahyun’s quarters was nothing extraordinary considering that it was the captain's room. She had a simple bed, a desk, a couch, a bookshelf, and a chest. They looked around for Chaeyoung’s bottle and came up empty after searching through the entire room. Chaeyoung looked at the chest and there was a large “PROPERTY OF KIM DAHYUN.” printed on top of it.

“So should we open it?” Sana asked while coming to Chaeyoung’s side.

“I don’t know. I feel kind of wrong opening this and going through her personal stuff like that.” Chaeyoung said while scratching the back of her neck.

“Chaeyoung. We’ve already broken into her boat AND her private room. Both of which were locked or were supposed to be. There really isn’t much room to talk about invading privacy here.” and for the first time in a while, Sana made sense.

“I guess you’re right… I’m only here to get the bottle and leave, that’s it.” Chaeyoung said while crouching down to the chest.

“That’s it.” Sana repeated.

Chaeyoung moved the lock on the chest and opened it but she didn’t see her bottle. What she did find was pictures of her and Dahyun from the time they had spent together over the summer. There were Polaroids, printed pictures, little souvenirs that they had gotten each time they went to explore someplace new and every little gift that Chaeyoung had picked up for Dahyun. 

“You guys really spent a lot of time together huh..” Sana said while looking through everything.

“Yeah. She kept everything too.” Chaeyoung said, feeling hopeful that Dahyun hadn’t given up on them afterall. 

Chaeyoung picked up a polaroid and looked at it. “This was the first time she brought me out on her boat. It was such a weird day but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” She looked at the picture of the two of them holding coconuts and drinking out of them. She decided to keep it and hoped that Dahyun didn’t notice that it was gone and slipped it into her pocket.

“We should go, it isn’t here and I don’t want someone to come onto the boat and arrest us.” Chaeyoung said while getting up and closing the chest again.

“You’re right. Maybe tomorrow we can check her apartment to see if the bottle is there.” Sana suggested.

“Yeah I think we should. We have to figure out a way to get into there too. We aren’t going to be as lucky as we were tonight.” 

Sana nodded her head in agreement and the two slowly and carefully made their way out of the boat and closed every door behind them on their way out to make sure that there was no sign that they were ever there. 

They made their way back to Chaeyoung and Tzuyu’s apartment and got ready for bed with Sana sneaking into Tzuyu’s room. 

“Goodnight Chaeng, we’ll get your bottle back, don’t give up on that or on Dahyun either.” Sana said softly.

“Goodnight Sana, thank you for helping me out today, I couldn’t have done it without you.” Chaeyoung nodded before entering her room and diving into her bed. 

  
  



	9. Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if some things in this story seem rushed :( I usually write these at night when I have free time which usually ends up being around 1 or 2 in the morning since writing these takes so long!

Dahyun was laying on her bed watching TV but she couldn’t exactly focus. Her eyes kept drifting to the glass bottle sitting right under the TV. Chaeyoung’s bottle. Dahyun had moved it from the shelf in her room on the boat to her room in her apartment as a reminder. A reminder of Chaeyoung and how close they had gotten over the past couple months. She felt guilty for leaving their friendship hanging in the air like that and she knew that what she was doing probably made Chaeyoung upset too. 

She turned off her TV and got up to leave her apartment for the first time in a couple days. She checked the time and saw that it was almost 1:30pm and decided that this would be a good time to grab some lunch. She grabbed her phone and was about to text Chaeyoung asking if she wanted to get food when she remembered that that probably wasn’t her place to ask right now. She texted Momo instead.

“Hey wanna get lunch? We can eat whatever you want. I just want to get out of the house for a bit.” Dahyun got ready and changed so by the time she had finished, she got a reply.

“Yeah sure, I can meet you at the restaurant we usually go to down the street from your place in about 15 minutes?” Momo answered.

“Sounds good, see you soon!” Dahyun answered and prepared to leave but not before taking one last longing look at the bottle. 

Half an hour later, Dahyun and Momo were sitting and having a meal together. 

“When I die, I’m gonna swallow a bunch of popcorn kernels beforehand to make the cremation process a bit more exciting.” Momo said while stuffing a dumpling into her mouth.

“That isn’t exactly what I meant when I asked if you had any plans for the future” Dahyun said extremely confused. 

“You didn’t exactly specify how far into the future.” 

“I meant whether or not you want to get married or not, what you want to pursue after you get your degree, that kind of thing.” Dahyun said 

“I haven’t really thought about it honestly. Although I will say that I met this girl at the farmers market the other day and even though I’ve said that I’m never getting married, this one might be different!” 

“But you actually say that every time” Dahyun laughed, “what happened to that one watiress girl you were talking to?” 

“You mean Lisa? We’re still friends but it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m pretty sure she has a new girlfriend already so it’s fine. This new girl is different from all the other girls though! She’s not like my type at all and is the opposite of the fierce, strong girls I usually go for.” Momo said while swooning.

“Oh yeah? I can’t wait to meet the girl that is making Hirai Momo consider marriage”

“Maybe you will one day, I don’t want to rush into things. She’s Japanese too so I’m just glad we at least have the same core values.” 

“Really? I’m not sure if I know many Japanese people in this area. What’s her name?”

Momo pulled out her phone to check and took a second to swallow her food before reading the name off of her phone. 

“Myoui Mina.”

Dahyun nearly suffocated when she heard that name and immediately started choking on her drink and coughing way harder than she ever has before. Momo was extremely concerned and was patting her friends back to help her out and after a long while, Dahyun calmed down but barely. 

“Myoui Mina?” Dahyun asked with a look of fear in her eyes.

“Yes? Do you know her?” Momo asked, suddenly afraid of the answer.

“I mean.. Yeah kind of. She was my last girlfriend.” Dahyun answered slowly and without looking at Momo.

“You mean this Mina is the same Mina as your Mina?” Momo’s eyes widened

“She isn’t my Mina anymore but yeah, that’s the same one.” Dahyun said

“I can’t believe this, I’m so sorry Dahyun I had no idea. I’ll break things off with her right away.” Momo quickly said.

“No, don’t! You seem to like her a lot and I don’t want to ruin that for you. Maybe she’s changed and you can be what she’s looking for when I clearly wasn’t. Keep doing what makes you happy and don’t worry about me.” Dahyun said while looking up at Momo.

“Are you sure? I can end things now, it won’t be a problem.” Momo said hesitantly.

“I’m sure. If I want to move on then I need to let her go completely. I just hope that she doesn’t do what she did to me again.” Dahyun said surely.

“Me too. But if she does then I won’t hesitate to go off for the both of us” Momo said, smiling.

“I’m sure you will,” Dahyun said while smiling back.

They finished their meal and went their separate ways. Dahyun was about to go home before she made a detour and headed towards her boat. She hadn’t sailed out in almost two weeks since it needed some repairs done and she missed being on it a lot. She walked down the docks and was about to unlock it when she saw the door was wide open. She slowly walked inside and called out.

“Hello?” but no one answered. She was extremely confused since the only person who was supposed to be on the boat was the last repairman coming to fix the doors but he should have locked up afterwards. She continued walking around when she heard shuffling and sounds of things being dropped on the far end of the boat. She picked up a metal pipe leaning on the wall and slowly started making her way towards the sound. She turned the corner and was prepared to swing and bash the head of the intruder in.

“AHHHHH” Dahyun yelled while lifting up the pipe in her hands. 

“AHHHHH” the trespasser turned around and Dahyun saw that it was just her repairman with his headphones in, dancing around while fixing the door he was supposed to.

“Oh. I’m sorry about that, I didn’t know you were here.” Dahyun said shyly.

“That’s alright. Almost gave me a whole heart attack though.” The man said while putting a hand on his chest. “This door is pretty much fixed! Just need to screw in these last couple and we’ll be all set.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry again, I thought you were gonna come fix it last night.” Dahyun said while putting her pipe down. 

“I was but something came up. Car troubles. I came this morning instead.” He answered while putting some screws in. 

“Ah okay. Makes sense.” Dahyun said while walking back towards her room. She knew that she didn’t come to the boat because she missed being on it. She walked to her chest and noticed that the lock was placed incorrectly. Considering that Dahyun is the only person who comes into her room, this was extremely weird. She opened the chest and saw that most things were still in their place but a couple things were moved around.

“This isn’t right..” Dahyun said to herself. Everything in the chest was arranged in chronological order and when Dahyun looked, the very first item she had placed was gone. The Polaroid of her and Chaeyoung was missing when she could have sworn that it was in there last time. 

“Hey boss, the door is done. I’m gonna head out now, I’ll see you next weekend!” the crewman said in the doorway. 

“Okay, thanks again for coming, Jackson. You can just leave the key on the table, I’ll grab it on my way out and lock up.” Dahyun said, still looking through her chest.

“I don’t have a key.” Jackson said.

“What do you mean? How did you get in this morning? And lock up last night?” Dahyun said, looking up.

“The door was unlocked when I got here this morning and I wasn’t the one that locked up last night. My car had troubles so I couldn't come, remember? That’s why I’m here now.” Jackson said while confused. 

If Dahyun was confused before then she was absolutely baffled now. Someone couldn’t have broken into the boat in the past couple days right? Who would come in and steal a single Polaroid then leave? Out of all the expensive things on the ship. Dahyun didn’t want to believe that Chaeyoung had been here. There was no way.

“Uhh right. Never mind then, you may go. Thanks for fixing the door.” Dahyun said while nodding.

“Okay… See you soon. By the way, I’m throwing a party soon to celebrate our last weekend of summer before school comes back. You’re invited, your girls invited, the entire school is invited!” Jackson said while grinning. “It’s gonna be tight.”

“Okay, sounds good! I’ll let you know soon” Dahyun said.

Jackson left the boat and Dahyun followed soon after while making sure to lock up this time. 

Dahyun walked back to her apartment building deep in thought trying to figure out how Chaeyoung got onto her boat and took a Polaroid and why. Dahyun had been sure that Chaeyoung had given up on their friendship by now considering how Dahyun has been treating her. 

As she walked into the lobby of her apartment, she saw a custodian arguing with the person who worked at the front desk. She couldn’t see the custodian’s face but from their arm movements, it seems as though it was a heated discussion. She went up to her apartment and as soon as she walked in, she went to her room and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. Dahyun walked out of the bathroom 25 minutes later with a towel on her head and she was about to walk back out into the living room when she stopped in her tracks. She looked over at the TV and noticed that there was something different about the area. 

It took her about 10 seconds too long to figure it out but when she did, she was even more shocked than she was on the boat somehow.

She pulled out her phone and immediately called Momo and explained the situation. 

Chaeyoung’s bottle was gone. 

-

“You cannot be serious.” Chaeyoung said.

“I am! This is going to work!” Sana said. She was currently dressed up as a janitor with a mop bucket and everything. Her plan was to sneak her and Chaeyoung into Dahyun’s apartment by pretending that they were there to clean her place.

Tzuyu walked into the room and saw how her girlfriend was dressed and let out a huge sigh. “You cannot be serious.” 

“Come on guys! It’s going to work!” Sana insisted.

“Is the fake mustache necessary though? I think it’s pretty obvious that you’re a female, babe.” Tzuyu said 

“Maybe not..” She ripped it off and screamed when she realized how much it hurt. “I guess I won’t have to get my mustache waxed anymore..” 

“You didn’t even bring me a costume!” Chaeyoung said

“You don’t need one! Our only goal is to get inside her building and apartment which is where I come in! You just follow me and pretend that you happen to live there too and get your bottle!” Sana explained. Tzuyu and Chaeyoung hate to admit it but it did make a little sense. 

After some difficulty getting Sana and her mop bucket around, they were standing outside of Dahyun’s apartment building and Chaeyoung was extremely anxious. Sana buzzed a random door and waited for an answer.

“Hello?” a random female voice said.

“Uhh yes, hi, I’m here to clean your apartment.” Sana said while faking a deep voice. Chaeyoung thought that there was absolutely no way that the lady on the other end was gonna believe that that was a real person. 

“Oh really? I usually get maid service on Thursday’s but I guess today works too!” They heard the door buzz and Sana looked at Chaeyoung and grinned while the latter could only stand there in disbelief at how ridiculous people in the world can be. 

They were walking through the lobby when the person at the front desk yelled “Hey! What are you doing? You can’t bring that in here!” 

“What do you mean? I’m here to clean an apartment.” Sana asked. 

“We don’t use mop buckets here, all of the apartments are carpeted and you can’t just come in and drag water around!” The front desk clerk said.

“I’ll have you know that I provide the best of service no matter what material I use!” Sana yelled back while walking toward the man and dragging her mop bucket along. 

Chaeyoung used this opportunity to sneak away and take the elevator all the way up to the floor she knew Dahyun lived on. Knowing that Dahyun and Jihyo left a spare key in the plant, she easily got into their apartment and was grateful that neither of them were home. She looked around the living room and kitchen for her bottle but couldn’t find it. 

Chaeyoung wandered around the apartment for a bit before she found Dahyun’s room and walked into it. She spotted her bottle on Dahyun’s dresser under her TV after a couple seconds but as soon as she took a step, she heard the front door being opened. She panicked and quickly ran into what she assumed was Dahyun’s closet and quietly shut the door. 

Dahyun walked into the room and Chaeyoung’s heart stopped and then started beating harder than it ever has before. Dahyun walked around her room for a bit before getting clothes out of her dresser and walked into her bathroom. Once Chaeyoung heard the water running and was sure that Dahyun wasn’t going to come back out any time soon, she quietly came out of the closet, grabbed her bottle, and ran without making any noise. 

She ran straight out of the apartment, into the elevator, and back out into the lobby. She found Sana still arguing with the man at the front desk and got her attention and started waving the bottle around and pointed at the door for them to go. 

“Actually, I think I’m at the wrong apartment building, sorry about that!” Sana giggled before running out the door with Chaeyoung. She ditched her mop bucket in the parking lot and kept running while the front desk clerk just stared at her confused. The two of them ran until their legs couldn’t handle it anymore and they collapsed. 

“I can’t believe you got it!” Sana exclaimed

“I can’t believe you managed to distract that guy for so long, I only needed you to distract him while I went in.” Chaeyoung said while trying to catch her breath.

“I wasn’t planning on it but he was really getting on my nerves!” 

“At least we know now that even without Tzuyu’s support, this was a mission success” Chaeyoung smiled. She high fived Sana and they got up and kept walking.

They walked through the plaza and entered a bakery to get some pastries to have later. While looking at the different types of cakes, someone else entered the shop and Chaeyoung looked up and had just enough time to hide the bottle behind her back before the person recognized who she was. 

“Chaeyoung? Oh wow you look different. How are you?” 

“Hey Jihyo! Yeah haha I decided to change things up a bit. I’m okay, how are you?” Chaeyoung was lying if she said that she wasn’t sweating. 

“I’m not bad. Just trying to spend my days happily!” Jihyo said while smiling. One thing that Chaeyoung was able to appreciate Jihyo for was that the girl always seemed to look on the bright side of things and had a quality of being able to cheer everyone up no matter what.

They conversed for a while with Chaeyoung not moving from her spot or the bottle from behind her back until Jihyo finally left. Chaeyoung felt guilty for just breaking into the girls apartment and mentally promised to make it up to her one day. Sana got their cakes and they left the bakery to go back to Chaeyoung’s apartment. 

On their way back, Sana was showing Chaeyoung the knee brace she had on.

“I have to say, I’m a little embarrassed for you” Chaeyoung said. 

“There’s nothing embarrassing about a sports related injury!” Sana retorted

“Tripping over a basketball while going to the bathroom is not a sports related injury.” Chaeyoung said. 

“Yes it is!” Sana argued. While she was explaining how it was, she swung her arm and accidentally hit somebody standing to the side.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry!” Sana said quickly.

“Don’t worry about it, no harm done honestly.” The girl smiled.

Chaeyoung looked up and she couldn’t believe her luck. She knew that she had done a lot of bad things in the past couple of days but she didn’t think that karma would hit her this fast.

“Chaeyoung is that you? Wow you look different.”

“Hi Momo, how are you? Yeah I figured my hair could use a change.” Chaeyoung said nervously. 

Momo nodded and was about to reply but she looked down at what Chaeyoung was holding. She looked in between Chaeyoung and the bottle in her hands before her eyes got wide. 

“You have the bottle…” Momo said quietly 

This time, Chaeyoung had nowhere to run or hide.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally wasn't going to add any more characters but then I saw a bunch of random tik toks about how Jackson is in every fic and is the one who always throws the party and it makes me laugh. I'm not sure on if I'm going to incorporate it into the story or just leave it as a small easter egg part but I hope you get the reference either way lol


	10. Fin (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said that I was gonna stop at 10 chapters but it was so long that I decided to split it into two to reduce the chances of frying someones brain from my writing hahaha. I apologize for any and all typos and if I find any then I'll fix them as soon as I can!

“Wait Dahyun slow down, I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Momo said. She was walking down the street when her phone started buzzing from an incoming call from Dahyun and from the first second, she could tell it was something urgent. 

“THE BOTTLE IS GONE!!!! IDONTKNOWWHEREITWENTITWASRIGHTHEREWHENILEFT-” Dahyun continued.

“DAHYUN I CAN’T HELP YOU IF I CAN’T HEAR OR COMPREHEND YOU!!” Momo yelled back, not caring if some people around were looking at her, she just wanted the noise in her ears to stop.

She heard Dahyun take a big deep breath before trying again. “Chaeyoung’s bottle is gone. It was right here on my dresser when I had left to go eat with you earlier and now it’s just not here. I’ve looked everywhere, it makes no sense.”

“Are you sure you looked everywhere? It didn’t fall and roll off somewhere in your room?” 

“No, I swear I tore my entire room and basically the entire apartment to find it, it’s NOT HERE!” Dahyun sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

“Okay okay. And Jihyo didn’t take it? You know how she likes to clean things, maybe she wanted to wipe it down or something.” 

“She’s been at work all day, she couldn’t have.”

“Oh, okay. I’m sorry Dahyun I’ll keep an eye out for it I guess but I can’t really help you right now. Are you going to Jackson’s party? Maybe that will take your mind off of things.” 

“That’s okay, weird things have been happening around here and it’s been freaking me out.” Dahyun wasn’t sure if she should tell Momo about the missing polaroid or not, it might make her sound crazier than already is. “But yeah, I’ll probably go to Jackson’s. I’ll drag Jihyo with me too, she’s been working a lot lately so she probably needs to blow off some steam.” 

“Sounds good, I hope you find the bottle, I’ll see you soon.” Momo hung up her phone and was about to put her phone away when someone walking by almost smacked her phone right out of her hands.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry!” the girl quickly said.

“Don’t worry about it, no harm done honestly.” Momo smiled. She had to admit that the girl was beautiful, she was about to say something when she realized that the girl wasn’t walking alone. She looked over and saw someone she hadn’t seen in weeks. 

“Chaeyoung is that you? Wow you look different.” Momo said. Chaeyoung might have replied but Momo was too focused on what Chaeyoung was holding as she unconsciously nodded. 

“You have the bottle…” Momo said quietly.

“Momo it’s not what it looks like” Chaeyoung panicked.

“It looks like you broke into one of my best friends' apartments somehow and stole that bottle.” Momo said while crossing her arms. 

“Whoa whoa whoa what are you talking about stealing? This bottle here is Chaeyoung’s to begin with and Dahyun is the one that stole the bottle.” Sana piped in, also crossing her arms.

Momo had to admit that the girl was right while Chaeyoung was surprised that Sana had said something that actually made sense. 

“It’s still breaking and entering!” Momo refuted.

“Breaking? No! Entering? MAYBE!” Sana tried to argue. 

“Okayyyyy, we’re gonna go now.” Chaeyoung said while pulling Sana away hoping that she doesn’t say anything that gets them arrested. “But Momo please don’t tell Dahyun. If I get the chance I’ll do it myself but I really want things between us to end without conflict.” Chaeyoung said begging with her eyes. 

Momo had to think about it for a second. Would she be betraying Dahyun by not telling her? She didn’t owe Chaeyoung anything but she didn’t want to hurt the small girl either, even though she would be hurting her best friend in the process. She was in between a rock and hard spot but didn’t want to get herself more involved than she already is.

“Fine. But if you wait too long to do so then I’m telling her myself.” Momo said pointedly. 

Chaeyoung nodded furiously and dragged Sana away back to her apartment. Momo gave them one last look, wondering if she made the right choice and walked off in the opposite direction. 

-

Jihyo walked into her apartment after a hard day of owning a flower shop and all she wanted to do was take a calm bath and go to bed. However, life seemed to have different plans for her because when she turned the main light on, she saw that her apartment looked as though a tornado had run through the whole place. Her first thought was that someone had come in and robbed them (technically she wasn’t wrong but that wasn’t the reason for the mess). She was about to pick up her phone to call the police when the tornado that caused the mess ran into the room from the hallway. 

“Jihyo!! Heeeyyy how’s it going?” Dahyun said while leaning on a nearby display table which fell over and spilled the contents of the vase it was holding all over the floor. “I’ll clean that up.” 

“Dahyun!! What did you do?!?! This place was _spotless_ when I left!! How did you do this in a single day??” Jihyo said while referring to the mess in front of her. Magazines were thrown all over the floor, the couch cushions were tossed around everywhere, and there were a couple of clothing items hanging from the curtain rod of their living room. 

“I’m sorry Jihyo!! But Chaeyoung’s bottle went missing and I kind of freaked out and had to find it.” Jihyo was about to scold the girl some more when she saw that the younger one had already started to tear up. 

“Hey no it’s okay, it can get cleaned up. What’s wrong?” Jihyo said while pulling the girl into a tight hug, her anger was already dissipating. 

“Chaeyoung’s bottle is gone. The last and most important thing I have from her is missing and I don’t know where it went.” 

Jihyo knew that it was more than just the bottle that Dahyun had lost and she felt that while holding the girl. 

“I’m sorry Dahyun. It’ll turn up again one day, don’t worry.” 

“I hope so. Sorry about the living room, I’ll clean it up.” Dahyun said while releasing herself from Jihyo. She cringed when looking at the damage she had caused and slightly laughed at the rampage she went on earlier.

“It’s okay, nothing a little reorganization can fix. We can stay in for the next couple days and watch movies like we used to until you feel better” Jihyo offered. 

“Actually… Jackson is throwing a party in a couple days. I was thinking we could go? We could both blow off some steam I feel like and it’s the last weekend before school starts again so it might be fun.” Dahyun looked at Jihyo hopefully. She knew Jihyo wouldn’t enjoy being surrounded by hundreds of college students drinking and making a mess everywhere, even though she was the same age. 

Jihyo was thinking about it for a second before she finally decided. “Okay, if that’s what you want but if I see any sign of trouble or anyone getting out of hand then we’re leaving.” 

“Deal, I’ll invite Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Momo so we can all have a good time together, we haven’t gotten together in awhile and I think it’ll be fun.” Dahyun said. 

They spent the rest of the night cleaning up their living room and passing out on the couch together. 

-

“You wanna go where?” Tzuyu said while looking up from her laptop. 

“A party!! This guy I’ve had classes with texted me and said he’s throwing a huge party to celebrate the whole summer before school starts and it sounds so exciting, we have to go!!” Sana said while showing Tzuyu her phone.

“Sana you go to parties almost every weekend during the school year anyway, how is this one any different?” 

“The fact that I don’t have to cram a week's worth of homework the next morning!” Sana said as if it was something to be proud of while Tzuyu just stared at her incredulously. 

Chaeyoung walked out of her room and passed them to go to the kitchen and grab a glass of water. 

“Chaeyoung please convince your senior citizen of a roommate to come to a party with me this weekend.” Sana said while waving her arm towards Tzuyu.

“You can’t convince her, Sana. If there’s anyone more disinterested in the social masses than me, than it’s gonna be Chae-”

“I’ll go with you.” 

Sana and Tzuyu both whipped their heads to look at Chaeyoung. Or what they assumed to be Chaeyoung. The person in front of them looked and sounded like Chaeyoung but what she said did not match up to Chaeyoung at all.

“You will?” Sana asked carefully, not wanting to scare off the new Chaeyoung.

“Sure, I could use a place to get wild and release my feelings.” Chaeyoung shrugged while drinking her water. Sana clapped her hands like a seal and tried to circle the counter to hug Chaeyoung while the girl simply rounded the counter the other way and ran away. 

“See, Tzuyu? Chaeyoung’s coming and we’re gonna get BURNT!” 

“You mean turnt?” Chaeyoung asked.

“What does that mean?” Sana asked, turning her head to the side.

“Never mind.” Chaeyoung sighed

“Fine I’ll go. But only to stop you two from getting into trouble or dying.”

“This is going to be SO FUN” Sana said while jumping up and down.

Chaeyoung and Tzuyu rolled their eyes and tried to prepare themselves for a night in Sana’s natural habitat. 

-

The music was way louder than she had liked and it seemed as though the bass was going to boom her heart out of her chest at any second. She had no idea why she had agreed to come but she figured that since a new school year was starting soon, she would be a little more outgoing and more willing to make friends.

She was carefully maneuvering her way around the house and through the crowd until she found who she was looking for. She quickly walked over and tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a small smile.

“Hi,” she said shyly.

“Mina! Hey I’m so glad you made it!” the girl said as she pulled Mina in for a hug.

“Hey Momo, yeah I’m surprised I made it here, it seems like everyone is having a good time though” Mina said while looking around.

“Yeah it’s so loud and busy in here but I love it. Do you want me to get you a drink or anything?” Momo offered. Mina saw the cup that’s already in Momo’s hand and figured she might as well catch up. 

“Yeah sure, if you want. Did you come here alone?” Mina asked.

“No actually I came with a couple of friends, you might have-” and before Momo could finish her sentence, yelling could be heard from behind her.

“MOMO!! Have you tried the- oh.” The world seemed to have stopped as soon as Dahyun walked up and came face to face with Mina again ever since their last encounter at the beginning of summer. Momo was fully aware that this would probably happen tonight but not within the first 5 minutes of her talking to Mina. 

“I’m gonna go… get you that drink now.” Momo took the opportunity to leave the awkward area and walked as slow as she possibly could to the kitchen area. 

“So… How are you?” Mina asked. She knew it was probably a stupid question to ask and she knew that Dahyun had sensed her awkwardness because all Dahyun did was stare at her as if she was thinking of the fastest way to murder Mina without causing a scene. 

“I hope your family is doing well, I haven’t seen them in awhile.” Mina tried again, but obviously she hasn’t seen them in awhile, they probably hate her at this point.

“Don’t talk about my family. Family is one of my core values, such as honesty and loyalty.” Dahyun fired back. 

“Look Dahyun, I know that I’ve hurt you a lot, but it’s been years and honestly our relationship wasn’t even that serious.” Mina tried.

“Not that serious?! Mina I was IN LOVE with you, how did you not get that? We spent almost all the free time we had together, that seems pretty serious to me.” Dahyun said with her voice full of pain.

Mina knew that what Dahyun said was right, they did spend enough time together to basically be considered a married couple at the time but for some reason, Mina had never developed the same feelings for Dahyun as the younger girl did for her. Mina knew that Dahyun wasn’t going to be the person she would spend the rest of her life with but she just didn’t know why she didn’t end the relationship sooner. She realized by the end that dragging Dahyun along for a ride that was only going to hurt her and was wrong but before she could do anything about it, Dahyun had walked in on her and Tzuyu. 

Mina froze and her mouth was suddenly so dry and she wondered where Momo was with her damn drink. Although Mina thought that this situation couldn’t get any worse, the human form of a headache approached them. 

“I knew I had smelled a rat in here but I didn’t realize that it would be in here dressed in jeans a crop top.” Nayeon said as she seemed to have appeared out of nowhere next to Dahyun, glaring at Mina. 

“Nice to see you too, Nayeon” Mina answered. She knew that Nayeon had always been protective of Dahyun so it didn’t surprise her that Nayeon was on the list of people who wanted to decapitate Mina. 

“I hate seeing you like this, Mina.” Nayeon said.

“Like what?”

“In person.” 

Nayeon took a second to let out a burp before continuing. 

“I heard that you and Momo are… conversing now. Couldn’t be satisfied with hurting one person in our friend group so now you’re going after another? I’ll swing at you right here, right now, Myoui!” Nayeon said while swinging in the air at nothing. It was clear that she had already had more than a few drinks and Dahyun and Mina were both wondering if the girl can even see correctly. 

“Whatever I have with Momo is just friendship right now, even if I want something more, I’m going to take it slow. I know you guys probably hate me and I deserve it but I’m not going to make the same mistake twice. You don’t have to trust me but just know that I won’t hurt Momo.” Mina reasoned.

Nayeon was about to fire back with more insults when Dahyun stopped her.

“I believe you.” Dahyun said 

“What?” Mina and Nayeon said at the same time. 

“I said that I believe you. If I want to move on then I have to let you go and that includes not worrying about what you do anymore. I support your friendship but for the sake of Momo, not for you. Momo isn’t only one of the nicest, hard-working, most talented people I know, she’s one of my best friends and a form of sunshine and if you do anything to hurt her then it will be the last time you have a friend ever, do you understand?” Dahyun said as threateningly as possible. It was difficult to do though since she was trying to stop Nayeon from swaying back and forth next to her. 

“I understand.” Mina said. She wasn’t fully afraid of what Dahyun could do to her but she knew the girl had powerful friends and family and knew that she deeply cared for her friends so Mina had no reason to not believe her. 

“Good. I know this probably isn’t the last time we see each other but I’m gonna hope it is anyway.” Dahyun said while dragging Nayeon along to get some water. Before she left completely, however, she turned around to say one more thing. “By the way, Momo’s favorite food is jokbal but she hates cucumbers and melons.” 

Mina thought for a second and smiled at the fact when the girl on her mind appeared in front of her with a cup.

“Hey sorry that took so long, there was some confusion in the kitchen about drinks.” 

“That’s okay, thank you” Mina said while taking the cup from Momo.

“So are you ready to have fun?” Momo said while smiling at Mina. 

And for the first time in a long time, the weight that Mina didn’t even know was on her shoulders was lifted and she followed Momo out into the crowd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second part of this will be posted at the same time and I really want to thank you if you've read this far, it means a lot to me :)


	11. Fin (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally at the end! Thank you so so so so much for reading through this entire story. Some parts may not be as good as others but I'm still learning and hoping that I'll improve soon but I hope you enjoyed this story nevertheless. I appreciate every single click I've had on this story and had a good time writing it as well even though each chapter took me hours to write. I love all of you! Dubchaeng soulmates forever woooooo!

“Look Tzuyu I know was don’t always see eye to eye but-” 

“It’s because you’re too short.” 

Chaeyoung glared at Tzuyu before she continued. 

“BUT I think that this could be good! Who knows? Maybe I’ll find the love of my life here.” Chaeyoung said.

“You mean the love of your life that’s standing over there?” Tzuyu said while pointing into the distance. Chaeyoung yelped as she spotted Dahyun talking to someone she couldn’t see since she was looking at the back of their head and immediately dived down to the ground and started crawling on all fours. 

“What is she doing?” Sana asked as she walked up to them.

“Becoming one with the floor I guess. What happened to your leg?” Tzuyu asked. She looked down as she noticed that Sana’s knee was slightly bleeding even though they had just gotten here. 

“Oh nothing, just another sports related injury, that’s all. I’m gonna go into the bathroom and find something to clean it up.” Sana said as she walked away. 

Sana found the bathroom after wandering around the hallways for a bit and saw through the opening of the door that a girl was standing in the bathroom mirror fixing her makeup. 

“Hey sorry, would you happen to know if there are any bandages in here or anything?” Sana asked.

“I think so, probably in this cabinet.” The girl said while looking up and opening the drawers. She found a mini first aid kit and handed it to Sana and allowed her to sit on the toilet seat to fix her wound.

“Thank you!” Sana said. She opened up the box and saw many items but realized that she had no idea how to use them. The most that Sana could do was probably just putting on a normal bandage used for paper cuts, not the wrap ones she saw in the box. 

“Do you need help?” The girl must have noticed the look of confusion on Sana’s face and Sana nodded. The girl crouched in front of Sana and started to clean her wound. 

“Did you hurt when you fell?” the girl asked.

“From heaven? No, I’d say it was pretty fun.” Sana said while smirking.

“No I meant in the driveway. I saw you fall and lay there for like two minutes and I’m assuming this was the result of it.” The girl said while unwrapping the bandage.

Sana let out a giggle before answering “Oh yeah, maybe a little. I’m Sana by the way, thank you.” 

The girl finished wrapping up Sana’s leg and stood up. “Well Sana you’re all set. Just be careful to not land on your knee again or else it’ll hurt a lot. If you need help again then you can just find me, my name is Jihyo.” The girl smiled. Sana felt all the love in the world in Jihyo’s smile and thanked her again before running back out to find her girlfriend.

-

Tzuyu sighed and wondered how these are the two people she got stuck to hangout with and decided to go into the kitchen and get a drink. She walked in and saw a couple of people already in there pouring all sorts of different liquids into cups. She picked up a cup and started pouring some fruity liquid in a punch bowl into a cup when another girl approached her and was about to do the same. 

“Here, I’ll pour you some, just hold your cup.” Tzuyu offered.

“Oh thanks so much! I’m gonna need two, hold the cucumbers please.” 

“Cucumbers?” Tzuyu asked, confused. The bowl between them was filled with fruits such as strawberries and oranges and probably had an absurd amount of alcohol and juice in it. But no cucumbers in sight. 

“No thank you” the girl said, still holding out her cup. 

“There aren’t any cucumbers here at all..?” Tzuyu said while pouring the liquid into the girls cup.

“Then what’s that bowl then?” the girl said while pointing at another large bowl to the side.

“That’s a regular salad bowl… for you to eat.” Tzuyu said. The girl in front of her can’t be drunk, right? She was talking and moving normally and she didn’t smell like any alcohol so she couldn’t have been that drunk. 

“Oh. That makes a lot of sense then, I’ve been sticking lettuce leaves and tomatoes in my drinks for awhile now.” the girl said while looking like she just had a revelation.

“HEY!! I KNOW YOU!!” a loud voice came in from the door behind them. Sana came back in with a bandage on her leg now and stood next to Tzuyu. “We met on the street! Momo, right?” Tzuyu had always known that her girlfriend was a social butterfly but Sana’s ability for meeting so many people out in public had to have been some sort of talent.

“Oh yeah, good to see you here, I never got your name last time.” Momo said.

“Minatozaki Sana. And this beautiful goddess right here is my girlfriend, Tzuyu” Sana said while lacing her fingers with Tzuyu’s. 

Momo smiled at them and nodded. “Nice to meet you both, I hope you see you around here sometime soon! Thanks for pouring me my drinks and teaching me about salad, Tzuyu.” Momo said while walking away. 

"Salad?" Sana asked.

"Don't ask" Tzuyu said while swirling her cup around.

“You ready to have some fuuuunnn?” Sana said excitedly. 

“I guess” Tzuyu said while taking a huge swig of her drink and almost choking on how strong it was. 

“Great! Let’s get this party started” Sana said while dragging Tzuyu out into the crowd.

-

Chaeyoung had no idea where she was crawling to but she knew that she went in the wrong direction when she could hear Dahyun’s voice more clearly than before now. She can’t exactly hear what she was saying or who she was talking to until she heard a muffled but distinct “I was IN LOVE with you.” come from Dahyun. For some reason this broke Chaeyoung’s heart even more as she just sat on the ground in between all of these people’s legs.

“Hey are you okay?” Chaeyoung looked up to see Jeongyeon looking down at her with a confused expression.

“Not really but I’ll get over it.” Chaeyoung said as she stood up. Jeongyeon took her arm and led her to the upstairs of the house where it was much quieter and they sat down in one of the empty bedrooms.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Jeongyeon asked. Chaeyoung wasn’t sure if she should say how she really feels. She knew that Jeongyeon was Dahyun’s friend and she didn’t want to burden the other girl with her problems so she just shrugged.

“I know we’ve only met a couple times but I’m still here for you. I can’t leave my No-Jam bro behind like that.” Jeongyeon said sincerely.

“I just wish that I wasn’t so in love with her. It would make this whole thing hurt so much less.” Chaeyoung said honestly. She didn’t even have to say her name but Jeongyeon knew who she was talking about, even though she didn’t know the entire situation. 

“Why are you trying to let her go then?” Jeongyeon asked. 

“It was her decision and I want to respect that, even if it hurts so much.” 

“I can tell you now that Dahyun is hurting just as much, if not more than you are. She might not have realized it yet but she just loves you just as much as you love her. I can tell because it’s the same way Nayeon and I would look at each other when we first met and started dating. Love is nothing without a few barriers but if you think it’s worth it then it’ll all work out in the end but it has to come from you fighting for it too.” Jeongyeon said. She recalled all the past roadblocks that she and Nayeon had to get through before they got to where they are today and she wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world. 

The words that Jeongyeon had spoken floated through Chaeyoung’s head for awhile and she decided that Jeongyeon was right. There wasn’t anything that she wouldn’t do to get Dahyun back and have her stay forever. Dahyun was someone she wanted to let in and be with for all of the highs and lows that life throws at them.

“Whenever you’re ready, she’s gonna be sitting in the garden in the backyard of the house.” Jeongyeon said while standing up. 

“How do you know that?” Chaeyoung asked.

“She’s had a pretty rough night already so far. She likes to find some peace and quiet when she does so that’s where I imagine she’ll be.” Jeongyeon said while smiling and leaving the room, leaving Chaeyoung to her thoughts. 

After contemplating for a while, Chaeyoung got up and rushed downstairs and through the house and straight into the backyard of the house and to her surprise, she spotted Dahyun sitting on a bench in the far corner of the backyard looking up at the sky with her back facing towards the house. Chaeyoung slowly approached and although Dahyun eventually heard footsteps approaching behind her, she didn’t turn around. 

“If you’re trying to get me to drive your hammered girlfriend home, Jeongyeon, you’re gonna have to pay me and give her a paper bag in the car.” Dahyun said while still looking up. 

“Actually I was hoping that you would go on a ride with me instead.” Chaeyoung said. As soon as Dahyun heard her voice, she whipped her head around and stared at her.

“Chaeyoung…” 

“Hi Dahyun.” 

The hearts of both girls were beating wildly and they both felt like they couldn’t breathe properly with being face to face for the first time in about a month. 

“So… About that ride, will you come with me?” Chaeyoung asked nervously. 

“Have you had anything to drink?” Dahyun asked. 

“No, I promise. I just got here and haven’t had anything.” 

“Well… then yeah I guess.” Dahyun said hesitantly. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous when all she wanted to do was be with Chaeyoung but she had no idea how to deal with it. 

15 minutes later the girls were in Chaeyoung’s car driving to who knows where. It was completely silent as neither girls knew that they had a lot to say, but didn’t know where to start. Eventually, Chaeyoung pulled into the parking lot and looked at Dahyun expectantly before getting out. 

“We’re at the mall?” Dahyun asked. 

“Yeah sorry, I was really craving a snack since I had nothing to eat at the party.” Chaeyoung said as she started walking into the mall. Dahyun followed her in and got in line with Chaeyoung while they waited. They got to the front quickly considering how late at night it was and Chaeyoung asked what Dahyun wanted.

“Oh sorry I didn’t think to bring my wallet, I didn’t know where we were going” Dahyun said sheepishly. 

Chaeyoung nodded, “One large one is fine then” Chaeyoung told the cashier. 5 minutes later, Chaeyoung was chewing on her giant soft pretzel while walking back to her car. They were going to sit and stay but the mall announced that they would be closing soon so they had to leave. They decided to sit on the trunk of Chaeyoung’s car and looked up at the sky. 

“So… Why did you want me to come with you to get a pretzel?” Dahyun asked nervously.

“It’s not really about the pretzel even though I was hungry. I just wanted to talk to you.” Chaeyoung said while setting her food down.

“About what?” Dahyun asked. 

“How could you leave me like that? I know that what I had done was wrong and I should have told you right away but I would have liked to think that we could have at least talked it out.” Chaeyoung said, all her emotions spilling out. 

“I’m sorry. It wasn't your fault at all and I shouldn’t have done that. I regret it deeply and I would totally understand if you can’t forgive me for it. I don’t want to live without you but I would get if you don’t want me in your life.” Dahyun said. All of the guilt she had been burying for the past month had come rushing back. 

“I don’t want to live without you either, idiot. I just wish this could have been handled better.” Chaeyoung said. 

“You don’t? Really?” Dahyun said, shocked.

“Well now it sounds like you want me to kick you out of my life forever, geez” Chaeyoung said while ripping off another piece of her pretzel.

“NO! Definitely not, I just can’t believe you don’t want to run me over with your car a couple times first.” Dahyun said while scratching the back of her neck.

“I mean maybe I will mentally, but not in real life. I love you too much to actually hurt you.” 

“You love me?” Dahyun said, eyes wide and staring at Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung stopped chewing on her pretzel as she stared back “I mean, yeah I thought it was pretty obvious.” she said as she swallowed the piece she was chewing. 

“Oh.. Well I love you too.. A lot” Dahyun said as she was turning a deep shade of red. 

“Really? How much?” Chaeyoung challenged. 

Dahyun slightly smirked as she started leaning in closer to Chaeyoung while she was too busy tearing off another piece of her pretzel. Chaeyoung looked up to see Dahyun only inches from her face before she panicked and stuffed the pretzel piece in Dahyun’s mouth.

“HEY! What the heck!” Dahyun said while eating the pretzel, she had to admit that it tasted pretty good. 

“Sorry. I panicked, I didn’t realize what was happening” Chaeyoung said as it was her turn to become red now. 

“A simple ‘no thank you’ would have sufficed” Dahyun said while rolling her eyes. 

“I don’t want to say no though.” Chaeyoung said while actually looking at Dahyun this time. Chaeyoung leaned in first this time and Dahyun followed soon after. They met in the middle and kissed for the first time since the last time they had seen each other. They kissed and let out every emotion they were feeling and only pulled apart when they had to breathe. They kept their foreheads touching and closed their eyes. 

“You taste like pretzel” Dahyun said, making Chaeyoung laugh.

“You just had to ruin the moment, didn’t you?” 

“It seems to be a common thing I do” Dahyun joked. Chaeyoung continued to rip off pieces of her enormous pretzel and handing it to Dahyun and after about 2 minutes, Chaeyoung started laughing hysterically even though nothing was said. She couldn’t stop laughing and Dahyun looked at her like she had gone absolutely insane. 

“Uhh are you okay or should I be concerned?” Dahyun asked. Chaeyoung nodded and got off the trunk and ran to the passenger side of the car and pulled something out of the glove compartment and hid it behind her back before coming back and standing in front of Dahyun.

“And that would be…?” Dahyun asked while getting nervous at how scared Chaeyoung looked. 

“You have to promise not to get mad.” Chaeyoung said quietly.

“I will promise no such thing!” Dahyun said.

“Ugh okay but I got over me being mad at you so you have to get over you being mad at me for this now.” Chaeyoung said.

“Why would I be mad at you?” Dahyun asked slowly. Her brain started going through a million possibilities as to what Chaeyoung could have done but none could compare to the shock she felt when Chaeyoung pulled out her glass bottle from behind her back and presented it to Dahyun. 

“IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS? HOW DID YOU GET THAT?” Dahyun asked while jumping off the trunk and looking at the bottle. 

“YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T GET MAD!!” Chaeyoung said back

“NO I DIDN’T!!!” Dahyun fired back. “HOW DID YOU GET THIS?”

“THIS HAPPENED LIKE LAST WEEK STOP LIVING IN THE PAST!!” Chaeyoung yelled.

“THIS WENT MISSING LIKE 3 DAYS AGO, WHAT?!?!” 

“LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY THEN!”

“I can’t believe that I’ve been freaking out about losing it when you’ve had it the entire time!” Dahyun said while holding her head in her hands.

“I’m sorry!! I thought you had given up on me and our deal so I wanted it back” Chaeyoung said, cowering back. 

Dahyun lifted her head and looked at Chaeyoung in the eyes. 

“I never gave up on our deal or you and I never will. I promise that I’ll never leave you like that again.” Dahyun said while reaching out to hold one of Chaeyoung’s hands. 

“Then I guess you deserve to open this now then.” Chaeyoung said while handing Dahyun the bottle.

“Really? You’re gonna let me make your wish come true now?” Dahyun said while holding the bottle with both hands. 

“You already have.” Chaeyoung said while smiling. Dahyun looked at her confused before opening the bottle. A smile slowly grew onto her face and she started tearing up. 

“Oh no, don’t do that, don’t cry, that’s so lame.” Chaeyoung said, embarrassed.

“I’m sorry I can’t help it, I’ve just missed you so much and I love you.” Dahyun said while fanning her eyes. 

“I love you too, idiot.” Chaeyoung said while pulling Dahyun in and kissing her again. 

“Forever?” Dahyun asked

“Forever.” Chaeyoung said confidently. 

They pulled apart and Dahyun looked down at the paper in her hands and smiled again before looking up at Chaeyoung and pulling her in again. 

  
  


_“I wish I had someone to share my pretzel with forever.”_

  
  


- **FIN** -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you so so so much for reading my story. If you have any suggestions on my writing or even another prompt you'd like to read then please let me know and I'd love to try! I hope this lived up to someone's standards and who knows, maybe I'll write a bonus chapter or epilogue one day. thank you again <3 (ALSO IF YOU DON'T GET THE REFERENCE TO WHAT CHAEYOUNG PUT IN HER BOTTLE, IT'S WHAT TZUYU SAID TO HER IN THE VERY FIRST CHAPTER. I had always known that that was going to be what was written on the bottle, I just had to figure out how to get here.)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and suggestions are always appreciated and I will try my best to reply to every single one of them! I'll see you next time <3


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